Authors Note: Hello there! Welcome back to another chapter! First, I would like to apologize for the massive break between this chapter and the last. I was having trouble figuring out how to continue the story after the Battle of Haven and this chapter has gone through many rewrites before finally coming out. Unfortunately, with the college year about to start, these large gaps between chapters may become more common. However, I promise to keep this story running! As always, the support from everyone is very much appreciated and allows me to keep writing for you guys! Anyway, let's not waste any more time!

Last time on Dragon Ball R, our heroes are recovering after narrowly escaping the wrath of Lord Frieza. As they regain their composure, they begin to formulate a plan to defeat Frieza by using the Relics to summon the gods. In addition, Ruby calls upon the Relic of Knowledge and asks the spirit about the dark past between the Saiyans and Frieza. Meanwhile, Salem is beginning to panic, unable to find a plausible way out of her predicament as Frieza continues to loom over Remnant, more terrifying than ever before. Is there really any way to stop the galactic overlord? Today: Training Resumes! A Wish for Immortality!

The birds chirped cheerfully as dawn broke once more over the tree tops of Patch. The morning sun shined over the small isle, passing over the wooden house packed with people, slowly waking the residents up. Soon, sounds began coming from the kitchen as breakfast was cooked.

Ruby yawned loudly, stretching her arms out as she lifted herself into a sitting position. She smacked her lips, moistening her mouth a little and looked out her bedroom window. The morning sun shone through, bathing her room in a warm light. For a second, Ruby felt very content, believing everything was alright in the world. It was just another day for her at her small house.

Of course, she knew this to not be true. She only needed to listen to Vegeta downstairs barking at some unfortunate soul about something. She sighed and looked down, gripping her blanket tightly.

It had been a week since the battle at Haven Academy, the following destruction of Anima, and the interaction with the Relic of Knowledge. Since then, the gang had done their best to prepare themselves for the mission of retrieving the other Relics. This had included lots and lots of training.

Ruby winced slightly as a bruise on her arm, received during training that had not yet been healed by aura, throbbed. She did not know how, but the training at Mistral in preparation for the battle in Haven was borderline easy to the current regiment Goku and Vegeta were putting them through. Of course, she understood why. With Frieza's scouter destroyed, the evil emperor had no way of tracking their energy, allowing the Saiyan's, Piccolo and Krillin to use their KI powers freely. For the Huntsmen, this meant that their training now consisted of more dangerous attacks to defend themselves against. Many times, this week, Ruby had found herself running for her life as she avoided being incinerated by a volley of energy balls. Nora at one point said as they were running, and to which Ruby very much agreed with, that it was like playing a very deadly version of dodge ball. Except you can't through any balls back.

But that wasn't all that had changed in the training regime. When the Huntsmen weren't trying to be killed by their own friends, they were forced to face off against waves of terrifying Grimm. This idea had come from Raven, who had been staying away from the others during the day, only coming back at dusk to sleep. While she was out, she would encounter many Grimm, attracted by the negative tension permeating from their location. When she described them to Goku, the Saiyan decided to use the Grimm as training partners for the Huntsmen. On paper, this idea did not sound too bad to the Huntsmen. They were familiar with Grimm and, before their new friends had arrived to Remnant, had been trained solely to kill Grimm. But naturally, the Saiyan's had made it much harder for them. They would take the Huntsmen to the middle of the woods and leave them there for the whole day so they could fend off the Grimm by themselves without anywhere to retreat to. They would only come back to retrieve the Huntsmen at nightfall, not allowing Dende to heal any of the wounds they had sustained so their aura could improve. Needless to say, Ruby and the others began to dread the Grimm training just as much as the personal training.

Ruby sighed heavily once more. As much as she wanted to stay in bed and do nothing, she knew that another day of mandatory training lay ahead of her. There was really no point trying to resist it. Yang tried a few days ago, oversleeping and missing the assigned time to wake up. Ruby remembered how she had been eating breakfast that day to suddenly hear screaming and then Yang crashing through the roof and landing on the dining table, still dressed in her pajamas. Vegeta had punched the floor under Yang's bed, splintering it easily and letting the blonde fall down a floor the hard way. To add insult to injury, Yang was forced to rebuild her own room after training, meaning she had to lose sleep and work with aching wounds. After that incident, no one dared to skip out on training.

As Ruby pulled off the covers and swung her legs over to stand, a shadow appeared at her window. She blinked to see Goku floating outside her window, smiling cheerfully.

"Heya, Ruby! Sleep well?"

Ruby couldn't help grin a little. Despite everything that happened, Goku's friendly attitude was able to raise her spirits ever so slightly. It was hard to believe that the guy was their strongest asset in the fight against Frieza. Then again, all Ruby needed to see was him fight and train to remind herself why that was so.

"Yeah, I guess so," she said, heading to her drawer and looking for clothes. Goku chuckled a little.

"Well, get ready! We got another day of training ahead of us. I hope you are up to the task."

With that, the Saiyan flew away, leaving Ruby to change. As Ruby found the clothes she was looking for, her momentary happiness began to fade once more as the sight of Goku reminded her of something else. The tale that Jinn had told the group. It had left a massive impact on them all, from the visions of Frieza and his father strutting around the Saiyan planet to seeing the fathers of both Goku and Vegeta to the destruction of the planet at the hands of Frieza.

The night they had seen it, not much was said afterward. Everyone just retired for the night, letting their thoughts carry them to bed. Not until the next day did anyone speak about what they had seen. Ruby and the rest of the Huntsmen were in the dining room, taking the only break allowed during training (a maximum of five minutes). They had been nursing their bruises while grabbing a quick snack when Black had broached the subject, cautious as always.

"So… what did everyone think about the… well, story?"

There had been a short silence as everyone let their minds wonder back to what they had experienced. After a second, Yang spoke up.

"Pretty messed up, to say the least. I mean, I had heard some of it from Vegeta, but to actually see it…"

She didn't have to say anymore. The sight of Planet Vegeta being disintegrated had followed them into their dreams that night, causing many of them to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Not just from the fact that an entire civilization had been wiped out, but because they were now supposed to stop the evil entity responsible from doing the same to Remnant. The only reason he hadn't done so yet was the want of killing Goku, Vegeta and the rest of them personally for his own satisfaction.

After another short pause, Weiss had spoken.

"I'm wondering what Goku and Vegeta are thinking after seeing that. Seeing their fathers and their race being destroyed like that… It can't be easy. Even for them."

That thought had crossed the Huntsmen's minds. But, the Saiyans in question had not spoken once about the vision. The day after, they had simply begun putting the Huntsmen through training. And if it was bothering them in anyway, they didn't show it at all. Krillin and Gohan occasionally gave them concerned glances and even Piccolo watched them, looking for any sign of distress. But the Saiyans did not exhibit as much as wince of anger, sadness or grief.

After the first day of training, Ruby recalled approaching Bulma, who had been preparing to go to sleep, and asked her about the Saiyan's behavior, knowing that she had at least known Goku for a very long time.

"I wouldn't be too concerned about it, Ruby," Bulma had said, seeing the worried expression on the Huntresses face, "While Goku can certainly seem like an emotional person at times, he knows when to keep them hidden. Besides, he knows that dwelling over what he saw would only get in the way of his training, which is basically his entire life. Well, other than food."

Bulma tried to crack a joke, but Ruby still looked concerned. The scientist noticed and smiled, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Listen, there is nothing to worry about. Goku can take care of himself. And as for you, I would be more concerned about not being killed by him during training."

Ruby had left the subject hang at that, not bringing it up again since. It had soon been driven out of her mind as training became more rigorous and she found herself, like Bulma said, trying not to be killed. But every time she saw Goku's smile, she wondered what the Saiyan felt inside.

Ruby shook herself. If she kept dwelling on this, she would be late for morning training. She quickly pulled on her usual Huntress outfit, grabbed her weapon, Crescent Rose, from her desk and descended the stairs to the first floor.
As she stepped off the last step onto the landing, she turned to see Jaune and Dende sitting cross legged together in the living room. They had their eyes closed as they faced each other and were holding out their hands. As Ruby watched, she saw light emanating from both pairs of hands.

Ever since their small fight, Jaune and Dende had moved past it. In fact, Jaune had come to Dende and asked for a favor. The Huntsmen had clearly wanted this favor to be a secret from the others, but Ruby and everyone else had found out by eavesdropping on his conversation with Dende, concerned that he was going to get angry at the small Namekian. Instead, they heard something quite surprising.

"I want to become more useful," Jaune had said, his voice carrying a serious edge, "I cannot stand just sitting on the sidelines anymore, watching as my friends get hurt and die."

"What can I do to help you with that?" Dende had asked, quite surprised to find Jaune asking him for help.

"I need something special. Something that can aid them in battle," Jaune explained, "And since I have yet to acquire a Semblance, I need to do it manually. I want to learn how to heal people, like you do."

Ruby and the other Huntsmen were just as shocked as Dende had been after hearing the request. It was common knowledge that Jaune felt that he was one of the weakest of the group, despite the progress he has made. But to learn how to heal like Dende? At the time, it had seemed quite implausible.

But Dende had agreed to Jaune's request and since then, the two had taken time before and after training to practice. And, to the great surprise of everyone, Jaune was actually being quite successful. With Dende's help, he had manipulated his aura into energy similar to the one Dende uses for healing. At the moment, he was able to heal small wounds and bruises with ease. In many ways, it seemed Jaune had finally found his Semblance.

Ruby watched the two for a few more seconds, smiling a little to herself. She always really liked Jaune and always felt that things never seemed to go well for him. To see him now, learning something as complex as healing in such a short amount of time warmed Ruby's heart as much as anything.

She left the two with their practicing, making her way to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast before training began. She entered the kitchen to find Ren and Nora there already, the former flipping pancakes over the stove. Ren was notorious for his fantastic pancakes and Nora was just as notorious with her love of them. Ruby had once seen Nora eat three stacks of ten pancakes within the span of just five minutes. It had been quite the unreal sight.

The two noticed Ruby come in and smiled at her.

"Morning," Ren said calmly, flipping a pancake and keeping a wary eye on Nora, "You are here just in time. Want a pancake?"

"Yes please," Ruby said, grabbing a plate from the cupboard, "I have only been able to eat toast in the morning for the past few days."

"You need to wake up earlier," Nora tutted, her eyes on the pancakes, "Then you would have enough time to make something really good for yourself."

"Earlier than now? It's six-thirty in the morning," Ruby said raising an eyebrow in Nora's direction, "Besides, do you actually wake up earlier than I do, Nora?"

Before Nora could answer, Ren said, "Not really. She only wakes up once I'm up and heading downstairs. If she was on her own, I doubt she would ever be able to wake up on time without Vegeta's help."

Nora pouted and Ruby laughed. The one thing that she was very grateful for was that despite everything that happened, people around were still able to keep their sense of humor.

She took her pancake and headed to the small dining room. On her way, she passed by Qrow holding his usual flask and looking to get inside the kitchen.

"Heya kiddo," he said grinning down at her, "Ready for another round in hell?"

Ruby shook her head chuckling.

"As ready as I will ever be," she then eyed the flask in his hand, "Are you getting more booze from the kitchen, Uncle Qrow?"

He quickly tried to hide the flask behind him, looking sheepish. Ever since the Battle of Haven, the veteran Huntsman had been drinking himself to sleep every night. He claimed to be fine, but there was growing concern about how much he was drinking. Even the stoic Piccolo had inquired about the behavior, going as far as to offer him a meditation session.

"Look kiddo," Qrow began, his voice slightly slurred, "When you get to be my age, you will start to see the value in this stuff and…"

He trailed off and suddenly lost his footing. Ruby jumped to help, but he motioned her to relax, using the doorframe to hold himself up. He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but Ruby was not fooled.

"Uncle Qrow," she said, her voice filled with concern, "Please stop. Please. Get some real sleep for once. I can't watch you do this to yourself."

Qrow opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. Instead he let out a large sigh and propped himself back up. He looked at the flask in his hand for a second. Then he pulled back his arm and threw it across the room. It crashed through a window and fell outside. Qrow smiled, and Ruby saw his body relax.

"I think I will take your advice, kiddo," he said.

He patted her on the head before walking towards the staircase. As he did so, Ruby heard him mutter, "I may take up Piccolo on his offer after all."

Ruby smiled, feeling quite pleased with herself. It had been a real struggle this week to convince her uncle to stop. This was a real victory for her. With a new sense of happiness, Ruby took her pancake and headed into the dining room.

Sitting around the dining table, she found the likes of Oscar, Bulma, and Neo. She greeted them cheerfully, taking the last remaining seat and digging into her pancake.

Oscar was inspecting his cane, seemingly lost in thought. The boy hadn't spoken much during the past week, mostly just going with the grueling training sessions put forth by the Saiyan's. It was incredible to Ruby that he was even able to do them without the former Huntsmen training she and her other friends had. But of course, he did have the help of a very powerful spirit within him. Ozpin had also not come out much, only doing so to talk about the plans for retrieving the Relics. Ruby was pretty sure that Oscar and Ozpin were spending far more time talking with each other than anyone else. It would explain why whenever she saw Oscar outside of training, he looked like he was spacing out.

Next to him, Bulma and Neo vastly contrasted his quite nature, talking animatedly with each other as Bulma tinkered with the Relic Radar on the table. The blue haired scientist had taken to doing this every day, trying to improve the device as much as she could before the mission began, claiming that she could make it more precise in locating the Relics.

As for Neo, she had simply been enjoying herself with Bulma and the Huntsmen. It was strange to think that just a short while ago, the young woman had been a dangerous enemy of Ruby's. Now, she was a powerful ally, training alongside them to get revenge for her old companion, Roman Torchwick.

As Ruby ate her pancake, she listened quietly to Bulma's techno babble as she explained the workings of the Relic Radar to Neo, who was nodding at every word enthusiastically. Ruby wasn't sure if Neo understood anything that Bulma was saying (she certainly couldn't herself) but she was content to see the two chumming around like old friends.

Ruby finished her pancake and stood up, taking her plate. She hated to interrupt the two friends, but she didn't want Neo getting in trouble for being late for training. She gestured to the woman.

"You coming? Training is about to start, and I don't think you want Vegeta getting on your case."

Neo sighed, but nodded smiling. She gave Bulma an affectionate hug before standing up and heading for the door. Ruby was about to follow but she then turned back, realizing that Oscar had not moved from his seat. He was still looking intently at his cane, completely oblivious to the outside world.

"Oscar?" Ruby called, "Oscar? You there? We need to go to training."

For a moment, Oscar still didn't move. Ruby was about to call out again, ready to go over and shake him, but he slowly looked over her, his eyes focusing on her. He suddenly yelped and tumbled off his chair.

"Oscar!" Ruby and Bulma exclaimed, rushing over to his side. The boy rubbed the back of his head, groaning quietly.

"Sorry about that," he said, accepting a hand from Ruby and helped himself back up, "I was so focused on something that I completely lost myself for a moment there."

He smiled sadly, dusting himself off and picking up his cane. Ruby smiled at him, taking his hand gently.

"You have been like this for the past week. You know that you can talk to us, right?"

Oscar sighed.

"Yeah I know. It's just… difficult. Ozpin is always speaking in my head, trying to strategize our next move and I get so involved in it."

Bulma patted him on the back.

"I get that feeling. Whenever I'm working on a really tough project, I always retreat within myself and concentrate everything I have into completing the project. But," she said, jabbing a finger in Oscar's chest, "You can't just lock yourself up in your own mind. It's not healthy. Especially in times like these."

Oscar nodded, taking in her words.

"Yeah, you got a point. Thanks," he then turned to Ruby, "Let's get going."

Ruby nodded and they headed to the door. As they exited, Ruby took a second to look back at Bulma and smile at her. Bulma smiled right back, giving her a thumbs up.

Outside, the warm weather enveloped Ruby, making her feel blissfully comfortable. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine that she was still lying in bed, wrapped in her blankets. She mentally shook herself. This was not the time to lose her focus.

Everyone was waiting outside. Ren, Nora and Jaune were stretching together, talking as they prepared for another hard day of training. Weiss was inspecting her rapier, making sure it was loaded with the appropriate Dust vials. Blake and Sun were conversing with Piccolo, and though Ruby couldn't hear all of it, she distinctly heard Sun ask if they were going to have to wear weighted armor like Piccolo did while training. Ruby hoped to herself that the answer would be no, but she knew it was very possible.

On the border of the Xiao Long property, Ruby saw Goku and Vegeta standing calmly, watching their trainees prepare themselves. Beside them was Gohan and Krillin who waved at her happily. Ruby and Oscar headed towards them, the others around them joining shortly after and they all stood before the two Saiyans, ready to hear the training regime for today. Goku was all smiles as looked over the Huntsmen, clearly excited to start training. Vegeta wore his usual scowl and it deepened as he noticed something in the lineup before him.

"Where is Yang?" he growled.

Goku blinked, looking over the Huntsmen once more to find that, indeed, the blonde brawler was not present. Ruby groaned, wondering if Yang had once more tried to skip out on training.

Vegeta began walking towards the house, his anger palpable. But before he could take more than four steps, the door opened and Yang rushed out, sprinting towards them. Behind her, Ruby could see her father, Taiyang, standing in the doorway, looking a bit flustered.

"Sorry… about… that…," Yang panted, reaching the group and giving Vegeta a nervous smile, "I was just taking care of something."

Vegeta grumbled but said nothing and returned to his spot alongside Goku, Piccolo, Krillin and Gohan. Goku grinned widely.

"Alright guys! Now that we are all here, let's get started!"

The Huntsmen all braced themselves, ready to hear what hell they were going to work through. Goku seemed to notice and chuckled lightheartedly.

"Now don't be like that! You guys are going to be fine. You have already improved so much over the last week! And besides," his tone suddenly became serious and the Huntsmen all noticed his eyes grow hard.

"You guys need to get stronger as fast as you can. Otherwise, this world will be doomed to fall under Frieza. I know this has been hard for you guys, but just think about what you are training for. Think about what you are trying to save. Think about what you have already lost."

He paused. The warm air seemed to drop a few degrees. The slight breeze that blew past them seemed to grow stronger and within it, there seemed to be the sound of cruel laughter.

Goku looked up once more at the Huntsmen, his face grave.

"You must keep going. Fight through it all. We will be beside you the whole time."

Gohan and Krillin nodded, their faces just as grave. Piccolo and Vegeta didn't move, but their faces showed the determination within them.

Seeing all this, Ruby suddenly let go of all her worries about training. She realized them to be silly and a burden to her when far greater concerns were on the horizon. She stepped up and readied her weapon.

"Right!" she yelled, her voice filled with confidence, "What's our assignment today, Goku?"

Goku smiled at her, his face glowing with pride. Behind Ruby, the others readied themselves, this time ready to face their training head on.

"That's the spirit," Goku said. He turned and gestured behind him at the woods. As if on que, the bushes rustled and Raven suddenly jumped out, panting slightly. She faced Goku, her read eyes glaring up at him.

"I rounded up a nice horde for you," she said icily, "I think it will be enough to keep your little apprentices busy for a whole day."

Goku grinned happily.

"Excellent! Thanks for the help, Raven."

She didn't respond. She just walked past him and the Huntsman, not giving any of them a single look. Yang scoffed audibly, but she too did not say anything to her mother. The relationship between the two was still noticeably tense, though to be fair, Raven had been spending little time anybody. Well, except for maybe Taiyang.

After Raven left, attention turned back to Goku, who was still smiling. The Huntsmen didn't need to ask what he had asked Raven to gather a "horde" of. It was pretty obvious they were about to be fighting some nasty creatures.

Piccolo cleared his throat.

"The aim of today's exercise," he began, pointing towards the woods, "Is to make sure you can withstand being attacked when you are in a dense area. You guys are going to go deep into the woods and encounter a large amount of Grimm. The limited space in the woods will make it harder for you to use some of your usual attacks. You must adjust yourself and use the environment to your advantage. In addition, we will not be extracting you this time, so you have to find your way back here on your own once you have defeated the horde."

Vegeta grunted.

"Don't you dare run back here too soon. You must defeat every damn Grimm in there before you come back. If you get lost and can't find your way back, that's your own fault. Don't expect us to come and get you."

The group of Huntsmen took a collective gulp. Vegeta had a tendency to completely destroy any confidence they had going into training. Goku chuckled a little seeing them quaver.

"Don't let him get to you. Just do your best out there. You guys are far more powerful than you believe."

They nodded nervously. Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, and Vegeta stepped aside, allowing the group to step forward. Gohan and Krillin game them reassuring smiles as they passed, wishing them luck. Piccolo said nothing, but a small smile played on his lips. Vegeta simply scowled and barked impatiently, "Get going already!"

With that, Ruby and her friends gripped their weapons and charged into the brush. Their surroundings quickly began to darken as the trees above them blocked the warm sunlight above. A silence fell upon them, only broken by the rustling of bushes and snapping of twigs as they ran through the woods.

"We should stick together!" Weiss yelled, "We can't afford to be split up with so much Grimm in the area."

The others all voiced their agreement. They began to bunch up closer, not slowing down but making sure they could see each other through the dense trees and bushes. Ruby was beginning to feel quite confident. Being alongside her friends was always comforting and it made the prospect of fighting Grimm far more enjoyable.

Of course, she regretted letting her guard down. As they ran, a sudden noise from above caught their attention. They looked just in time to see an orange KI blast rocketing towards them. Yelling surprise, everyone dived to the side, evading the attack as it blasted a hole into the forest floor.

"What the hell?!" Yang roared, her eyes going from lilac to red, "Why are they attacking us?"

Before anyone could answer, they heard the approaching sound of more KI blasts heading their way. With no time to consult each other, everyone scattered in different directions as they KI blasts continued to bombard them.

Ruby tore through the forest, hearing the sounds of explosions behind her and hoping that they would stay behind her. All her confidence had been swept away, overtaken by terror as she hoped that she wouldn't be vaporized.

After what seemed hours, though it had only been a few minutes, the explosions subsided. The quiet that followed rang in Ruby's ears as she stopped running and caught her breath. As she did so, she chuckled a little to herself and chided herself for thinking it would be so easy. Of course, they would send them off with a scare.

She straightened up and looked around. It was at that moment that she realized what had really been the goal of the attack. There wasn't a single other Huntsmen in sight. She was completely alone and, since she had not been really paying attention as she ran, very lost.

"Oh great," she whispered to herself, "How can this get any worse?"

A low growling behind her interrupted her thoughts. Whirling around, Ruby found herself face to face with a group of four-legged dog like Grimm. Beowolves.

Ruby backed away slightly, gripping her weapon and taking an offensive stance. The Beowolves continued to advance, growling and snarling at her, showing off their deadly sharp teeth. However, Ruby stood her ground. She took a deep breath in and paused for a second. In that second, the first Grimm leaped at her, jaws agape, ready to tear her head off. In an instant, she spun her scythe in an arc. The head of the Beowolf fell to the ground, detached from its body. The other Grimm faltered for a second and in that second of hesitation, Ruby struck again. She jumped forward with inhuman like speed, landing in the center of the pack. She tightened her hold on her scythe and spun around in a circle, allowing the weapon to cut all the Beowolves in half in a deadly spin attack.

Ruby let out an exhale and straightened up, watching as the remains of the pack of Grimm began to dissolve in the wind. Before she had time to relax, however, she felt the ground shake as something began to come towards her. She turned to see a large bear like Grimm stomping through the bushes, its glowing red eyes fixed onto her. An Ursa.

There had been a time when a Ursa would be cause for massive concern for Ruby. They were formidable Grimm, as strong as they were tough. They were responsible for the most rookie Huntsmen deaths and as such, were seen as a final challenge for beginners.

But now, Ruby simply faced the hulking creature, focusing her aura into her arms. As it lumbered closer, she suddenly crouched down and shot forward straight towards the Ursa. Before the Grimm could so much as begin attacking, Ruby sped right past it, her scythe slicing it through the stomach in one go. The Ursa let out one last roar of surprise before dissolving into black dust.

Ruby looked back at it calmly, relaxing her aura. It had been a trick that had been taught during training. Goku had wanted them to improve their overall power and had come up with the idea of using their aura as an enhancer to certain areas of the body when needed.

"It's like when we focus our KI into our hands to perform energy attacks," he had said to them, "If you focus your energy in spot, you can make it far more powerful."

Ruby smiled a little to herself, turning away from the Ursa's remains. As she did so, the bushes around her rustled and red eyes glared at her as more Grimm began to emerge, snarling menacingly. However, Ruby did not lose her smile. Instead she, pulled her red hood over her head, twirled Crescent Rose in her hand and faced the oncoming Grimm, grinning in excitement. There was no more fear.

Weiss leaned against a large tree, panting. She was sure that the volley of KI attacks had been done to separate her from her friends, but that didn't stop her from peeking constantly at the sky, waiting for another energy ball to flying towards her.

"Those Saiyans!" she thought to herself angrily, "They just have to make us run for our lives!"

She ranted to herself for a few minutes as she leaned against the tree, catching her breath. When she was satisfied with herself, she got off the tree and took a look around. As she expected, there was no one else in sight.

"Great. Just as I say that we need to stick together, we all get separated," she muttered to herself bitterly.

She began to walk through the woods, her rapier out at the ready. Now that she was alone, the atmosphere around her had become far more tense. She never would admit it aloud, but she deeply appreciated the company of her friends. They had a way of making any situation far more bearable for her and it comforted her to know that she had people supporting her. But now, she did not have any of that support.

As these thoughts crossed her mind, she heard the growling of a nearby Grimm. She looked to find the source and her eyes quickly fell upon a rounded back poking out of the bushes. As Weiss watched, readying herself, a black boar with white tusks emerged, snorting out angrily. Weiss recognized it all too well as a Boarbatusk. She had had run ins with this particular Grimm many times and had once even used her Semblance to summon the image of one during her father's dinner party.

It pawed glared at her, pawing the ground in preparation to charge. Weiss steadied herself, careful to not let her nerves unbalance her.

"This is just a simple Boarbatusk," she told herself, "I was able to take out one of these when I was still in Beacon."

The Grimm snorted once more before suddenly launching forward. As it did so, it curled itself into a ball and rolled towards Weiss. She didn't move for a moment, waiting for it to get closer. Just as it was about run her over, she darted to the side and stuck her rapier straight into the rolling Grimm. It sunk right in, causing the Boarbatusk to squeal in pain and slow down. The momentum almost took Weiss off her feet, but she planted them firmly and withdrew her arm quickly in one swift motion. She massaged her shoulder, watching the Grimm give one more squeal before dissolving away.

For a few moments, Weiss felt pretty pleased with herself. She didn't find killing Grimm enjoyable, but she did enjoy when she was able to dispatch of them quickly and comfortably. She wasn't given too much time to do so before more rustling came from behind her. Startled, she turned quickly in time to see four Beowolves leap from the brush towards her.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down for Weiss. She saw the four large dog like Grimm in mid leap, ready to tear her apart. She wanted to back away, but her mind told her it was too late to do so. She could try to slash them in half, but she wouldn't be able to get all four of them in one strike.

As she debated with herself, another idea came to mind. Something that she had not yet tried in a serious situation.

"No, I can't," she told herself, "I'm not ready."

But as she watched the Beowolves near her, drooling mouths open and teeth shining, she knew she needed to try.

She closed her eyes and concentrated hard, summoning her aura towards her weapon. With her thumb, she spun the Dust cartridges around, selecting a random one. Just as the Beowolves were about to land on her, she released her aura outward into her rapier. A massive burst of energy emitted from the tip of the weapon, engulfing and vaporizing the oncoming Grimm. Weiss was blown off her feet and she flew back a few yards before landing on the ground.

She lay there speechless, trying to comprehend what she had just done. It took her a few seconds but then it came back to her. She had used something that she had been taught during training earlier this week.

They had been practicing dodging by evading KI blasts from Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin. It had been a very stressful exercise with each move having to be carefully thought out under pressure. During that day's five-minute break, Weiss had decided to practice a little with her weapon. After having to dodge deadly energy balls for hours, she needed to fell strong again and holding her rapier always helped her do so.

She had been doing some basic slashes and lunges before using the fire Dust in her cartridge to fire off a small ball of fire. She had been about to continue when a voice suddenly spoke up behind her.

"What are you doing, girl?"

Weiss had turned in dismay to see Vegeta glaring at her. She hadn't noticed him come outside and watch her for the past few minutes.

"Uh…ummm," Weiss had stuttered at the time, unsure of how to answer.

Vegeta had been silent for a few moments. Then he approached her and said gruffly, "Fire that fire ball again."

Weiss was perplexed, not quite understanding what he was getting at. But she knew that disobeying him would not be beneficial to her health. She chose the fire Dust cartridge again and pointed her rapier up again and let off another ball of flame.

She turned to Vegeta, wondering what he was going to say next. The Saiyan Prince was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at her and said flatly, "Now try drawing from your aura and apply it to your weapon."

Weiss blinked.

"What?"

Vegeta scowled at her.

"Did I stutter? Focus your aura into your weapon! Come on, girl!"

Weiss grimaced in annoyance but did not talk back in fear of the repercussions. Instead, she focused her aura into her weapon just like Vegeta had instructed. She felt the power flow through her arms into the weapon, causing it to shimmer slightly. Then she once again fired a Dust shot.

There was enormous "BANG" and a massive ball of fiery energy exploded from the tip of Weiss's rapier. She shrieked as the momentum caused her to fall over and drop her weapon. Vegeta watched quietly as the massive fire ball smashed into a few nearby trees and burned them to smolders.

Behind them, the doors to the house flew open as everyone rushed out to see what all the commotion was. They were shocked to find a shaken Weiss and a calm Vegeta facing a currently burning section of forest.

Ever since then, Vegeta had told Weiss to practice using her aura to power up her weapon every night to become adapted to it.

"With the amount of aura you have," he had said, "You have the potential to fire off many of those types of attacks. However, you need to get used to using it or you will not be able to handle it more than once."

Now, deep in the Grimm infested woods, Weiss reflected back on what he said. She had followed his instructions and practiced, but she still felt it took up lots of her aura. But now, after using it on a pack off Beowolves, she felt… surprisingly fine. She still felt energized and got up without any trouble, dusting her white battle skirt off. She looked down at her weapon and despite where she was, she grinned a little.

"I guess that smug prince may been on to something," she said to herself quietly.

Her thoughts were interrupted as more Grimm began to approach. She cleared her head, spun her cartridges and stood up straight, ready to do battle.

Blake jumped from branch to branch, keeping her distance from the ground below. It had been a few minutes since the KI volley that had scattered, she and her friends and she was hoping that she could locate at least one person. But as she kept going from tree to tree, she began to realize that her chances of finding someone in these dense woods was unlikely.

She leaped onto a large oak and stopped for a second and getting her bearings. She was thoroughly lost and could not locate the Xiao Long property from the tree top. Which meant she was all on her own now.

"What to do now?" she pondered, looking about her. Obviously, she knew her objective was to fight a horde of Grimm before finding her way back to the house. But how to go about it?

For a fleeting moment, Blake thought of simply moving between trees throughout the day before finding her way back, avoiding any conflict. But the moment she thought of it, she dismissed it angrily.

"I will not run away again," she told herself sternly.

It had been hard for her to interact with her old teammates during the past week. It was the first time she was spending time with them since the fall of Beacon and she had run away from that predicament, leaving the others behind. Of course, they had moved past it, happy to see that was still alive and well. However, Blake still remembered how Yang had yelled at her when they had escaped Frieza. It still hadn't left her mind, causing her to be even more distant with them and choosing to spend most of her time either alone or in the company of either Sun or Piccolo.

Blake sighed, leaning against the tree. She was going to get nowhere if she kept sulking about her past mistakes. There were other things that were more important right now.

She stood up and turned to leap from the tree she was standing on when she came nose to nose with a white bug like face. She shrieked in terror, instinctively jumping back into open space and suddenly found herself falling down towards the forest floor. In the spur of the moment, Blake began composing herself, bracing her aura. She crashed into a thicket and came to a stop halfway into the bushes. Blake struggled to untangle herself, cursing in annoyance as branches scratched her before she finally got herself free and fell to the forest floor, panting heavily. Despite the long fall, she was almost completely unharmed, having used her aura to protect her. But it had still been quite the shock and Blake could feel her heart still pounding against her chest as she carefully rose.

Then, from above, Blake heard a series of buzzing sounds, growing louder by the second. She looked up just in time to jump out of the way as a large wasp looking Grimm slammed into the ground where she had just been standing. As it tried to unstick itself from the forest floor, a couple of others flew over him and charged straight toward Blake.

Blake reached behind her and unsheathed her black katana, using one hand to wield it and the other to use the gun disguised as a sheathe. As the first wasp Grimm (Blake identified it as a Lancer) approached, she raised her gun and fired a volley of shots at its head. They connected but glanced off harmlessly the pale white bony plates covering the head. The Lancer, unperturbed, kept coming and showed off its long stinger before shooting it out towards Blake. Right before it hit her, she jumped up and activated her Semblance, leaving her clone below to be impaled by the stinger. As the Lancer paused, confused, Blake fell in a neat arc and slashed her katana through its midriff, cutting the bony plates like butter. The Grimm shrieked, dissolving around Blake as she straightened up and faced the other Lancers, her confidence building.

The other Grimm balked slightly, clearly concerned about what had just happened to their companion. The one that implanted itself into the ground had finally gotten unstuck and was now flying beside its kin, also unsure of how to proceed. Blake didn't move either, watching the Lancers quietly and waiting for them to attack.

"As long as I play it safe and don't rush in widely, these overgrown wasps should be no problem," she thought to herself.

Suddenly, she heard more buzzing coming towards her. Startled, she whipped around to see another pack of Lancers flying between the trees, their eyes locked onto her. They encircled her along with the pack she had been fighting before and Blake all of a sudden found herself surrounded on all sides. She looked for a possible escape route, but there was no way to get past without having to get past one of the Grimm.

Her hands began to shake as panic set in. She was well accustomed to being in tough situations before, but she usually had some sort of backup with her. Now, she was completely alone, ready to be skewered from multiple Lancers.

"Think!" she screamed in her head, "There must be something I can do to get out of this! Something!"

Just as her confidence began to fade and the Lancers advanced, an idea did surface. Something she had just learned a few days ago.

With no other options left, Blake concentrated all her aura within herself and then activated her Semblance once more. Like always, a shadowy clone materialized where she stood, ready to act as a decoy. But as the Grimm began to attack, firing their stingers in unison, both Blake and the clone began to slash their katanas, deflecting the stingers away together. Before the Lancers had time to realize what had happened, Blake and her clone lunged forward, sinking their katanas into two of the Grimm, killing them instantly. Together, with cat-like speed and acrobatics, they began to jump from one Lancer to another, slicing through their weaker joints. Within just a minute, Blake and her clone were knee deep in a pile of black dust. Blake panted heavily, looking around her in awe, wondering if she had actually just pulled it off. Beside her, the shadow clone flickered before fading away entirely. Blake watched it go silently, her mind wondering back to how she had come to learn this trick.

It had been during a day of harsh training with their other worldly friends. The objective had been to train using their Semblances to both and improve on them and to practice using large amounts of aura. They had started by first displaying them so that their instructors could get a sense of what they were working with.

Blake had been one of the last ones to go and when it had come to be her turn, she activated her Semblance and produced the usual shadow clone. For a few seconds, there had been silence. Then, Vegeta, his scowl deepening had asked, "Is that all?"

"Umm," Blake murmured, finding it hard to respond under the Prince's harsh gaze, "It's… supposed to be a… decoy of sorts. But I can also use it to boost me and-"

She was interrupted as Vegeta punched through the clone in a blink of an eye. She started back, scared that she had done something wrong. Vegeta turned away from her and walked on, yelling behind him, "An ability like that is both cowardly and completely useless! I have no interest in dedicating my time towards it!"

Blake was absolutely stunned. She hadn't been the only one. As she stood there, unable to respond, her friends all glared daggers at Vegeta. Sun had even gone so far as to storm over to the proud Saiyan, his weapon in hand.

"You smug bastard!" he roared, "You take that back right now!"

Vegete wheeled around and for a split second, Blake was convinced that Sun was about to be killed. But before any rash actions could be done on either side, Goku intervened, putting a hand on Vegeta's and Sun's shoulders.

"Alright guys," he said calmly, "Let's step back a bit. I'm sure Vegeta didn't mean what he said."

Vegeta grunted, shaking off Goku's shoulder angrily.

"Shut it, Kakarot! That girl's ability is just a method of running away from a fight!"

Blake lowered her head, feeling a stinging in her eyes as Vegeta voiced the exact thing that had been plaguing her for so long.

A few of the other Huntsmen had begun to join Sun, including Yang, cracking her knuckles menacingly. But before they could do anything, Piccolo stepped up, glowering down at Vegeta.

"Even now you only seem to enjoy belittling everyone, Vegeta," the Namekian said coolly, "Tell me, how did you fare against Frieza when it was your time to shine?"

A dead silence had fallen over the group. Everyone watched, terrified, as Vegeta slowly turned to face the Namekian, his face gaunt with rage.

"Oh?" Vegeta asked, his voice carrying a murderous tone, "Do you want to die right here, green man?"

Piccolo grunted, taking up a fighting stance. Vegeta did the same and they stood there, facing each other in a tense standoff.

"STOP IT!"

Blake, who couldn't take it any longer, raised her voice at the two. They turned to look at her and Blake suddenly felt that she was in severe danger of being blasted away. But then, another voice spoke up.

"Um, if I may, I think we can do something to improve Blake's Semblance and make it… more offensive based."

Everyone watched as Krillin walked up casually to Blake, ignoring the dark glares from Vegeta and Piccolo. He stopped in front of her, giving her a friendly smile.

"Now, there is no guarantee that this will work," he warned, "But it's worth a shot."

He then closed his eyes and in the next second, he suddenly multiplied. Blake gaped as three Krillins open their eyes and smiled up at her.

"This is what I call the Tri-form technique," the three identical Krillins said in unison, "By concentrating my KI, I can split my energy into three separate beings. It's very useful in situations where there are loads of enemies and when you need to overwhelm a single opponent. The only drawback is that this does split your power into three, meaning that each clone is only a third of the power as you are on your own."

He concentrated once more, and his two other forms slid back into him. Blake was certainly impressed with the ability, but she didn't quite understand why Krillin was showing her. As if reading her thoughts, Krillin grinned.

"So now, I want you to try and concentrate your aura within and gather a large amount. Once you have done that, activate your Semblance. What I'm hoping will happen is that your aura will transfer into your clone and give it the energy to fight on its own."

Blake was a bit skeptical about this idea, but it wasn't like she would lose anything by trying. With everyone watching closely, she closed her eyes and gathered as much as aura as she could. Once she felt like she had gathered a large amount, she activated her Semblance. Just like before, her clone appeared before her and did nothing. Blake's heart sank. But Krillin was still smiling.

"Great! Now try attacking me."

Blake looked up, surprised by the request. Krillin gestured to himself, his grin not fading in the slightest. Blake hesitated, wondering if there was even a point in doing this. But then she noticed Piccolo watching behind Krillin with everyone else. He nodded to her, sending a clear message.

Unsheathing her weapon, Blake lunged forward towards the monk and did a simple side slash. Following her movements, her shadow clone did the same, attacking alongside her. Krillin dodged out of the way, his smile wider than ever.

"Perfect! Haha, my idea actually worked."

He scatched the back of his head sheepishly as Blake inspected her shadow clone, stunned at seeing it attack. However, as she stood there marveling, she felt a sudden wave of exhaustion hit her and she fell to her knees, sweating all over.

"Woah there!" Krillin said coming to her, followed by Sun and the rest of the Huntsmen. She felt drained and faint, but she smiled slightly as her friends grinned down at her happily. Yang reached down, offering her a hand which she accepted and got to her feet. She then turned to look at Krillin once more.

"That takes up a lot of energy," she said, "But in that moment, it felt so good."

Krillin gave her a thumbs up.

"Yep! With energy, you will just need to practice with your aura, and it should become easier. I don't know if you can summon more than one clone, but even if you can, I would stick with just the one for now."

Blake nodded in agreement.

"Thanks. Really, thanks so much, Krillin."

"Ah it was nothing," he said cheerfully, "Honestly, I wouldn't have thought of it if Goku and Vegeta hadn't figured out that you can use the aura guys have to power up certain things."

After that day, Blake had practiced every night using her Semblance while applying aura to it, determined to make it her own and have enough energy to comfortably use it. Now, standing in the forest and surrounded by the dust of several Lancer's, she glanced at her shadow clone. She smiled, realizing just how far she had come.

Buzzing sounds interrupted her happy moment. She turned to see another pack of Lancers on their way, ready to avenge their fallen comrades. She gave her clone one last glance before charging forward, her clone following like a shadow. No more running away.

"I'm gonna strangle that Prince when I see him again!"

Yang angrily pushed a tree branch out of the way as she tried to find someone after being separated by the volley of KI blasts. She was quite convinced that Vegeta had been behind them. None of the others would be so forceful as him.

It had been nearly an hour since and Yang had so far only encountered one or two lone Beowolves that fell really easily. She was beginning to get very bored, walking around the woods aimlessly without much of anything happening. However, it did give her time to think about some things without anyone around.

For her, these past few weeks since Vegeta had first crashed through her bedroom roof has felt like an entire lifetime for her. In such a short amount of time, her entire perspective on so many things such as power, evil, ambition and even grief had changed so much. But most of all, she had a whole new respect for the value of peace.

Of course, she had always cared about the wellbeing's of others, especially her friends. It had been part of the reason she had decided to become a Huntress in the first place. But when she heard stories of the Great War that had occurred on Remnant long before, she had never taken them completely seriously, thinking of them as just cool stories for kids to listen to. She never fully understood what effects war had, even many years later.

That all changed when she saw the carnage caused by Frieza. A single evil was responsible for wiping out literally millions of people in Remnant and destroying parts of the world that had been there for hundreds of thousands of years.

What scared Yang the most wasn't the body count or the power that Frieza had. It was that, if they somehow survived this whole ordeal, the Remnant she had grown up in would never be the same. Not just physically but mentally. People would have to move on somehow, rebuilding what they could and salvaging as much as they could. There would be little enjoyment, all stifled by the heavy grief that would linger on for years as people mourned and built memorials for their loved ones. It would be a life devoted to rebuilding something that was ruthlessly destroyed.

"Damn," Yang whispered to herself, pushing past some more branches, "That's one depressing thought. Maybe this is how Getes feels all the time."

As this crossed her mind, a loud roar erupted from nearby. Cocking her gauntlets, Yang poised herself for a fight, looking in the direction of the roar. She could hear the ground rumble slightly and the snapping of branches as something stomped towards her.

From a large thicket, a massive Grimm burst forth, snarling as it charged at Yang. It had the body features of a large gorilla with white bony plates covering its chest. It was known as the Beringel, one of the most physically powerful Grimm.

It swung its massive fist towards Yang, intending to squash the Huntress into the ground. However, Yang stood her ground and met the Beringel's punch with her own. They collided, creating a small shockwave between them. For a few seconds, the two sides fought against the other, trying to overpower one another. Then, Yang slid to the side, causing the Beringel to lose balance and fall forward with its own momentum. Taking the chance, Yang darted forward and began to launch a volley of punches into the Grimm's side, firing shots from her shotgun gauntlets on every punch. The Beringel roared and swiped its arm around to try and slap Yang away, who nimbly dodged to the side. The Grimm began to get back up and Yang took the chance to reload her gauntlets.

"You're pretty tough aren't ya?" she said, smirking up at the hulking creature, "Well you can at least give me some fun."

The Beringel snarled angrily, barring its razor-sharp teeth at Yang. However, to Yang's great surprise, instead of charging again, the Grimm suddenly began to back away into a thick clump of bushes.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang yelled, charging forward after it, thinking it was trying to retreat.

She ran into the bushes where it had gone and began to look around. But the large Grimm had disappeared. She walked out into a clearing, her guard lowering slightly as she looked around, trying to find the beast.

A massive force suddenly struck Yang from the side, knocking her off her feet and into a nearby tree. She cursed loudly, feeling her aura ripple as it took the brunt of the blow. She scrambled to her feet quickly, ready to punch the Grimm straight in the face. But when she looked around, the clearing was empty once more.

"What the-," Yang began but was cut off as she was once more slammed, this time from behind. She flew a few yards, crashing onto the forest floor and skidded a few more yards before coming to a stop.

Yang was becoming enraged. Jumping to her feet, her eyes had changed to their angry red. Her aura began to envelop her in a fiery red light as she began to use her Semblance. She began to run through the forest, angrily looking around for the Beringel that was toying with her. However, she could not find it which only added to her mounting rage.

"Where did that big bastard go!" she screamed, pounding the ground in her anger, causing the trees nearby to shake. Just as it seemed she couldn't get any angrier, a voice suddenly spoke in her head.

"Snap out of it! Do not let your anger dictate your actions."

She paused. The voice had been from a memory of just a few days ago during training. As she tried to cool herself down, she let herself for a moment recall when she had heard the voice to speak to her.

It had been one of the many sparring matches during the week of training. Many times, the Saiyans, Piccolo, Krillin and Gohan would match themselves up with one or two of the Huntsmen and engage in sparring matches. Of course, despite the massive improvements made by the Huntsmen, they were still quite one-sided as their other worldly friends did not quite seem know how to "take it easy" on somebody.

On this particular day, Yang had been matched against the tall stoic Namekian, Piccolo. She didn't really know much about him, not having met him until just a few days prior when he, Blake and Sun had joined them at the Battle of Haven. At the time, she really only thought of him as a calmer and more composed Vegeta. He certainly had the strictness and the aloofness that Yang associated with the Saiyan Prince.

The match between the two was not one Yang was very proud of. It was pretty apparent that Piccolo was not going easy on her, easily dodging all her attacks and landing his blows with lightning fast speed, causing the blonde Huntress to stumble and at times collapse all together with Piccolo barking at her to get up every time she did so.

As it kept going and Yang got continuously beaten down, her anger began to boil until finally it was too much. She activated her Semblance, her rage consuming her, and she began to fly recklessly at Piccolo, her only intention being to smash his face into the ground. However, Piccolo simply dodged every angry strike, frowning as Yang kept trying to hit him without even looking. It was then that he finally spoke up.

"Snap out of it! Don't let your anger dictate your actions."

His commanding voice washed over Yang and she stopped her senseless swinging. She stood in front of him, panting heavily as her aura tried to recover from all the damage it had taken during the match. Piccolo looked down at her, watching her pant. Then he sighed and motioned to her.

"Follow me."

Yang was confused. They were supposed to be sparring. She looked to find Goku or one of the other instructors. But they were all too busy in their own sparring matches. So, without really any choice, Yang followed the Namekian, trying to keep herself steady as she walked. They went around the back of the house and Yang had a funny memory from when she was younger where she took boys she liked here to make out with so her dad wouldn't see.

Piccolo gestured to two large rocks and Yang sat down on one. He sat across from her, crossing his legs under him.

"I have taken you here because you must control your emotions during battle," Piccolo began, motioning to sit in the same position he was, "If you can't control your anger during battle, you will always lose."

"But," Yang argued, "My anger is part of my Semblance. It helps fuel it."

Piccolo shook his head.

"Don't misunderstand me. Anger can be very useful and can help you power through many situations. However, there is a difference between controlled and uncontrolled anger. If you can't control it, you will completely lose yourself and leave yourself completely open. This is why," he put his in his lap, fingertips against each other, "You need to meditate and find a calm middle ground. Concentrate your being and your aura to your core and let your mind be enveloped by it."

Yang, though quite skeptical about what Piccolo was suggesting, followed his instructions. She took in a deep breath and let her body relax. Immediately, she felt her stress begin to fade and her mind become less clouded. It had been the first time Yang had ever tried to meditate and she couldn't believe how surreal it felt. It was like having everything washed away, leaving only herself and her composure behind.

After what felt like days, Yang opened her eyes and looked around to find that day they had started mediating during had become night. She looked to forward at Piccolo and found that he wasn't there. She got up and went around the house and found him standing on the porch, looking out over the woods quietly.

"What happened?" she asked, stepping onto the porch and looking at him curiously, "Did I miss a day off training?"

Piccolo snorted.

"No. If anything, you trained even harder than everyone else today."

Yang raised an eyebrow.

"But I just meditated for hours without moving a muscle."

Piccolo nodded, giving her a small grin.

"And by doing so, you have begun to train your body to compose itself under stressful situations. Not only that, it helps you connect closer to your aura and use it more efficiently"

He lowered himself into a cross legged seating position before raising himself off the ground slightly.

"Becoming strong has as much to do with your mental state as it does with your physical state," he explained to Yang, "If you are physical very powerful, but do not have the composure to use it, you will never win a fight. That is why meditation is key to becoming a powerful warrior."

Now, back in the forest, as Yang got pummeled by a Beringel, she recalled all of this. And there was no better time than now to put Piccolo's teachings into practice. Yang calmed her senses, letting her emotion flow away and gather her aura into her core. Despite the tense situation, Yang almost put her guard entirely down, allowing herself to completely compose herself. In just a few moments, her rage had subsided, and she was not fully aware of herself once again. And of the surroundings.

A quiet creak caught her ears, coming from above and behind her. Clenching her fist, Yang opened her eyes and as she turned around, she channeled her aura into her fist. There, hanging from a branch, ready to once more blindside her was the Beringel. Despite its massive size, it had been able to stealthily use its monkey like body to travel between the tree's unseen and attack Yang from above with quick attacks before retreating.

Now, however, it's red glowing eyes widened in surprise as the Huntress spun around to me it. Before it could back away or throw a counter punch, Yang's fist smashed right into its chest, her aura coursing through it. As her fist connected, Yang unloaded an entire clip from her shotgun gauntlets to finish the job. The Grimm roared as the bullets tore right through its stomach and out its back. Yang stepped back, watching as the Beringel fell to its knees, already in the process of disintegrating into a mass of dust.

When it all cleared, Yang glanced at her fists. The aura she had channeled was still running through them. She took a deep breath and focused, allowing the aura to recede. Then she smiled.

"Well, it isn't my preferred way of doings things," she admitted as she began to walk through the forest once more, "But I guess it couldn't hurt to use it every once in a while."

"Let's go find a nice big Grimm, Ren!"

Nora cheered excitedly, running ahead and leaving Ren behind, wearing a wry smile.

"Just don't get lost," he said, though he wasn't sure if Nora heard him.

It has been nearly an hour after the volley of KI blast fired down upon them, separating them from the rest of their friends. At first, Ren and Nora had also been separated from each other. But, as Ren was going through the forest, trying to avoid any large conflicts, his orange haired companion had crept up behind him. He nearly had a heart attack when she had grabbed him from behind yelling "BOO!" very loudly.

Now they were walking together, looking for Grimm to dispatch of.

"What a romantic way to take a girl out," Ren thought to himself, following the joyful girl, making sure to keep her in sight, "But knowing her, she would actually prefer this over something like a moonlight walk."

Ren was almost always calm and composed. Even in these hard times, with the world's fate literally at stake, Ren was far calmer than the rest of his friends. But when it came to Nora… things got more complicated.

The two have been have best friends ever since they escaped the destruction of their town. They were always together, surviving being alone and working hard to become recognized by a prestigious Huntsmen academy such as Beacon. There, they had finally found more friends and group that they could basically family.

But in recent times, especially with Frieza's attack on Remnant, Ren had begun feeling very tense whenever he was with Nora, especially when they were alone. At first, he dismissed as nerves and general concern for her safety during a time where death seemed always imminent. However, it persisted, and Ren began to suspect, and the more he thought about it the more he was convinced, that he had truly fallen for Nora. Despite being one of the most nerve-wracking things for him to realize, he guessed that he shouldn't be too surprised. He had spent most of his life with her and knew her as well as he knew himself. In addition, it was no secret that Nora was quite smitten with him. Even he was perceptive enough to see that. But he had never said anything about, worried what it would do to their relationship, which had become a vital part of his life.

He watched her skip through the bushes, humming off key. Depending on how their resistance against Frieza goes, they could only be alive for a few more days. Maybe it was time he said something, before it was too late.

"Nora-," Ren began, steeling himself. However, before he could continue, a loud rustling of trees caught their attention. They looked and saw a large black mass approaching them, crashing through bushes and even a few smaller trees. At first, they couldn't quite tell it was. Then they noticed the massive arching shadow protruding from behind the thing.

They backed away slowly, pulling their weapons out as the giant scorpion Grimm advanced. Its front pincers snapping menacingly while its tail curled over its head, showing off the golden stinger at the end. Its many red eyes didn't have pupils, but Ren could feel each and every one of them looking at him, wanting to see him torn apart.

"Death Stalker, Ren!" Nora yelled, hefting her war hammer, grinning in anticipation. Ren wished he had the same excitement that she did to fight to a giant killer scorpion.

"It's been a while since we saw one of these," he said, keeping his eyes fixed on the Death Stalker, "The last time we encountered one was during out initiation exam at Beacon."

The Death Stalker clicked it's mandibles angrily and began to advance, reaching its pincers forward to snap up Ren and Nora. The two jumped to either side, flanking the Grimm and charged forward, aiming to attack its large body. Nora leaped up high, using a grenade from her hammer grenade launcher hybrid to boost herself, and came down swinging her hammer down.

But the Death Stalker had other ideas. As Nora was about to hit the head, the tail came swinging from the side, aiming to smack her out of the air.

"Nora!" Ren yelled, jumping up himself to help her.

But Nora noticed too late. The tail slammed her in the stomach, sending her flying. She crashed into a large tree, letting out a cry before sliding down.

Ren grit his teeth in rage. Skirting around the Death Stalker, he ran to help her, but a large pincer landed in front of him, blocking his path. Turning around, Ren suddenly realized that in his rush to help Nora, he had unknowingly placed himself in the worst position possible. The Death Stalker literally had him trapped between its pincers and the rest of it.

Ren watched the tail begin to tense as it aimed the stinger directly at him. Thinking quickly, Ren composed himself and focused his aura, activating his Semblance. He felt himself be covered in a sort of small black cloak as his Semblance hid his emotions from the Grimm, causing it to falter. A Grimm mainly senses out prey by their negative emotions, which has been in abundance with recent events. However, Ren's Semblance acts as a perfect counter.

Not wasting any time or anymore energy needed to keep the Semblance up, Ren managed to jump over the large pincers blocking him and ran to Nora, who was beginning to get up.

"Nora!" he said, reaching her and holding her shoulder tightly, "Are you alright?"

Nora looked at him and gave him a smile that made him suddenly flush.

"Yep. Just a shock that's all. After all our physical and aura training though, this isn't bad at all. But I do appreciate the concern, Ren."

He blushed more as she teased him. Before they could say anymore, the Death Stalker began approaching once more as the effect from Ren's Semblance faded. They straightened up, facing the Grimm with determination.

"Let's take care of this Ren," Nora said, her voice level.

Ren nodded in agreement and together they sprinted towards the Grimm. It swung its pincers toward them, but they dodged with Ren going straight for the head while Nora flanked the creature. With his dual pistols out, Ren fired a volley of shots at the head, aiming for the many red eyes that dotted it. They hit, causing the Death Stalker to click angrily as its eyes were punctured, leaving it quite blind.

But blinding it was just a distraction. As the Death Stalker struggled to locate its prey once more, Nora came from the side. Switching her hammer to a grenade launcher, she fired two shots at the stinger, blowing it to dust. As the tail flailed madly, she reverted her weapon back to hammer form and, putting all her aura into it, she swung it straight down atop the head of the Grimm. With a sickening crunch, it smashed right through its bony plating and blasted it apart.

Ren and Nora stepped away, watching the large scorpion body begin to dissolve into black dust. As they did, Ren suddenly put his arm around Nora. He didn't know what exactly made him do it, but after taking out a large Death Stalker without taking much harm, he felt need to show his affection to the girl that had helped him do it.

Nora leaned into him, not even questioning it but enjoying it.

"Nora," Ren said quietly, his eyes still on the mass of dust before them, "I promise you that no matter comes our way, I will make sure we have a future."

For a moment, Nora didn't say anything. Then, holding him tightly, she said, "You better believe it. I'm not letting us die after coming this far."

They shared a laugh, enjoying each other's company in the Grimm infested woods. That fact came back to them as they heard distant roars and crashing of trees. Nora sighed but then smiled up at Ren.

"Of course, we can't just have time to ourselves."

She leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek. Then she began jogging ahead, yelling behind at him, "Let's get moving! We can't all that training go to waste!"

Ren stood for a second, feeling the place where her lips had touched, still processing what happened. For once in his calm and composed life, his brain had short circuited. It took all his will power to shake himself and give chase to Nora, who had begun to venture deeper into the woods. And despite being on a training exercise to destroy killer creatures, he felt happier than he had in months.

The Beowolf screeched in pain as Jaune cut in two with his sword. It dissolved, leaving the blonde knight alone once more in the woods. He wiped his brow, sheathing his sword before continuing deeper into the woods.

"Just another Beowolf," he said to himself, glancing around in case something snuck up on him, "I'm surprised that I haven't run into anything worse. Guess I should count myself lucky for that."

He smiled dryly, wondering if a massive Grimm would suddenly pop just for him saying that. But nothing came, which, if anything, only added to his anxiety.

Bad enough he had been completely separated from his friends and was now wondering through a forest infested with Grimm. But being trapped her as means of testing how far he had come under the Saiyan's harsh training made it nearly unbearable. Especially since Jaune felt, like he had done many times before, that he had not really progressed much despite his efforts.

Sure, he and his friends were not going to reach the level of Goku or Vegeta anytime soon, or ever for that matter. But still, Jaune felt that he was still woefully unprepared to embark on a mission to retrieve the Relics and be of much use. Watching his friends, he had seen them considerably improve in the last week in so many different ways. Some had almost become unrecognizable due to how far they had come.

But Jaune did not believe he had improved in the strength department at all. He barely got through training sessions without blacking out and did not have the skill to perform some of the new moves that the others were learning. He didn't even have a Semblance to show.

However, Jaune had anticipated all this before they even started training. Which is why he approached Dende with the intention of learning to use his large amount of aura to heal others in battle. It would be the closest thing to a Semblance we would get and if he could not be an offensive powerhouse, he could focus on being a support instead. And, to his great relief, his training with Dende had really paid off. The small Namekian had been able to successfully draw out his aura in a way that could be used for healing, despite him being skeptical at first.

"But being alone in the woods with wild Grimm around is not the ideal spot for a healer," he said presently, his mind reflexively coming back to a negative. No matter what he did to improve, Jaune found some way to degrade himself back down to nothing more than useless boy with a sword.

Jaune sighed, stopping for a few moments as he tried to clear his thoughts of negativity. It wouldn't do him any good to have his mind clouded by such thoughts. He just needed to press on. He could not give up after everything his friends have done for him. And… he could not give up on her.

Jaune closed his eyes tightly, resisting the urge to cry. It happened whenever his mind wondered towards that subject, which was every day. It was both his greatest burden and his greatest motivator.

"Pyrrha," he said quietly, the name making his breathing haggard.

Not a day went by without him remembering his former teammate at Beacon. She came to the school, already being a very skilled Huntress with tournament trophies under her belt and being known as one of the greatest prodigies of the generation. However, Jaune, who had not known any of this beforehand, somehow stumbled across her and, with his casual and good-natured personality, became good friends with her. Despite him being far weaker than her in almost every way, she had willingly joined his team along with Ren and Nora.

From there, she was the person that always supported him. No matter what predicament Jaune was in, she came to help or assist him in some way. Even when he pushed back against the help, believe he wasn't worth it, she persisted. Even when she found out that Jaune had forged his report card and had been accepted based on lies, she did not stop caring for him. In fact, she personally trained him, helping him become a better swordsman and Huntsman. It was the first time in Jaune's life that he had been helped in such a way and even, to some extent, cared for in that way. His parents had always supported him but were always too busy to give him the help he needed. It was only when Pyrrha came along that he began to improve and grow as a person. Overtime, he grew to love her deeply. But he never said it and hid as best as he could. Because though they were close friends, Jaune still believed that he was not worthy of her.

Unfortunately, he would come to regret not saying anything. The Fall of Beacon came and the city of Vale along with the academy were thrown into an invasion they could not win. Jaune and Pyrrha had kept close, making sure to keep the other safe. However, when Pyrrha saw Cinder with the power of the Fall Maiden, she had told Jaune to leave. He had protested angrily, refusing to let her go alone. But Pyrrha had silenced it all with a kiss before sending him away in a flying equipment locker. The last time Jaune saw her alive was her sad smile as she sent him to safety.

To this day, her death was his biggest burden. It was the reason he blamed everything on himself. It was the reason he never believed he was good enough. All because on that night, he wasn't able to stop her.

Jaune wiped the tears away from his eyes. He hadn't realized he was actively sobbing until he felt them reach his mouth.

He straightened up, making sure that his face was dry. He suddenly felt quite foolish for crying, knowing very well that his negative emotions would become a literal beacon for hungry Grimm. He did a quick check around him to see if anything was approaching. But once more, he seemed to be alone.

"Wow," he said, "Luck must really be on my side."

A scream suddenly erupted, resounding throughout the forest. Jaune spun around, his eyes widening in shock. The scream had seemed to come from close by and, to Jaune's horror, it sounded human.

"Someone's in trouble!" he yelled.

Forgetting his worries for the movement, he began to sprint in the direction where the scream had come from, jumping over large roots and ducking under low hanging branches. As he ran, he heard another scream accompanied by the sound of fighting. He was definitely getting close.

He burst through a thin wall of bushes and arrived at a clearing. He came to grinding halt, his mouth going dry as he comprehended the scene before him.

Sun, Neo, and Oscar were standing in front of him, their weapons out and their faces grim as they faced a terrifying battalion of Grimm. The dark mass consisted of many winged manticores and sphinxes, all of them either actively flying around or pawing the ground, looking for a chance to strike. Here and there lay black dust that used to be a living Grimm, but the number facing the Huntsmen was still quite large.

Jaune came to join his comrades, looking to see if anyone was hurt. Sun seemed relatively unharmed, though he was panting heavily, clearly having exerted a lot of aura. Oscar was also mostly unscathed except for a large cut across his arm which was being healed by aura as Jaune watched.

However, Neo was not doing so well. Despite her aura flickering around her, trying to keep her energized, it was also trying to heal multiple cuts on her both arms and legs, some looking quite deep. A large tattered slash was still bleeding freely on her cheek and the communication device that allowed her to talk was sparking slightly around her ear and looked broken.

"Jaune!" Oscar exclaimed, relief in his voice, "Thank god you're here. We could definitely use some help here."

Jaune noticed that Oscar's voice was normal and realized with a pang that the young boy was not channeling the spirit inside him. He wanted to ask him about it, but he decided that it could wait. He turned to Neo.

"Neo," he said, "Stay still for a second. I'm gonna heal your wounds."

Neo nodded, not saying anything. Jaune stretched her hands towards Neo and began to channel his aura outward, letting it leave him and spread over the young woman. Her wounds began to close up and disappear causing her to smile in appreciation.

Just then, one of the flying manticores gave out a mighty roar and charged down towards them, followed by a few more. As they approached, Sun and Oscar stepped in front of Jaune and Neo, preparing to engage.

"You keep healing her," Sun commanded, "We will hold them off."

Jaune could only watch as the two met the manticores in combat. Sun used his bow staff smack the first one to the side before using the two revolvers that made up the staff to fire at the next one. Meanwhile, Oscar leaped up and landed on top of another manticore. As the Grimm tried to shrug him off, he griped his cane in both hands and sunk right into the back of the creature. The manticore dissolved and Oscar fell down back to earth, where he rolled to minimize harm to himself. He got up and Jaune could see that through his concentration, he was smiling a little.

Unfortunately, the boy got a little cocky. A sphinx had quietly sunk around them and with Oscar's back turned, it pounced. Jaune didn't have time to warn Oscar as he was tackled from behind and nearly eaten. As the Grimm tried to ravage him, he shoved his cane in its mouth and tried to slip out. However, the sphinx simply lifted him up and flung him off the cane. He landed next Jaune, battered and disarmed.

"That did not go well," he said, coughing a little as he picked himself up.

He faced the sphinx, who had dropped the cane and was now charging towards him once more. Oscar put up his fists, but his face now conveyed pure terror as he stood unarmed against a charging Grimm.

A flash of white sped past Oscar and met the sphinx mid charge, slicing straight through it. The Grimm didn't have time even cry out before it burst into a cloud of dust. Oscar smiled as Neo turned around, her parasol still outstretched.

"Thanks for the assist," Oscar called out.

Neo nodded and sped back, picking up Oscar's discarded cane as she went. She returned it to him before they ran ahead to help Sun, who was beginning to get overwhelmed by the rest of the pack. Jaune was left behind, recovering his strength after using so much aura. He watched as the three of them fought together, dispatching Grimm from left to right as Neo's fully healed help began to turn the tide of the battle.

Jaune wanted to join and help, but he was still a little tired from healing Neo and he knew that if he ran in like this, he would only become a hinderance. Besides, it seemed they were doing just fine without him as he watched them tear through the pack, using their aura to power up their attacks while using their improved agility and speed to evade attacks.

However, as the battle raged on, the amount of Grimm didn't seem to decrease as more and more arrived to join, attracted by the commotion. As they did so, the Huntsmen fighting began to tire and were soon unable to cope with the growing numbers.

Jaune watched, his face pale as Sun was slashed from behind by a Sphinx and fell to the ground with a cry. Oscar was engaged by two manticore and desperately tried to fight against them but was eventually hit by a powerful swipe and brought to his knees. Even Neo, despite her impressive nimble fighting style soon found herself surrounded and tried to escape only to be attacked from behind.

Within just seconds, the three Huntsmen lay on the ground, their aura's rippling dangerously as they tried to get back up. But they the Grimm kept coming and they would not let them recover.

Jaune saw all of this, his body feeling like lead. He wanted to reach for his sword and charge the mob, but he would just be torn up as well. As the Grimm began to close in on Sun, Neo, and Oscar, Jaune racked his brain desperately, trying to find a way to get them all out safely. But he could think of nothing.

"Dammit!" he swore, slamming his fist against the ground in anger. Once again, he felt completely useless to help the situation. He was not a powerful Huntsmen like his friends or even a knowledgeable spirit like Ozpin. He was a mediocre swordsman and a mediocre healer. He would never be more than that. Mediocre.

He gripped his sword and pulled it out, his face contorted in defiance. He could not watch his friends die from the sidelines. He knew that he would die if he did this, but it was better than doing nothing.

He took one step forward when a sudden voice stopped him. A voice that made him freeze.

"Use your aura, Jaune! Expel all of it and transfer its power into your friends!"

Jaune spun around in a circle, his eyes wide and searching. There was no one. But that voice… it sounded just like-.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!"

Jaune turned back to see his free comrades on the verge of being completely ravaged by manticores and sphinx's. Their aura was spent, and their wounds were beginning to weigh them down as they tried to scramble away from their doom.

Jaune's face tightened. He wanted to figure what where the voice had come from, but this came first. Extending his arms towards the fallen Huntsmen he roared and focused all his aura into them. With the force of a fire hose, his aura shot into his friends, quickly filling them with new energy and power. Their wounds began to heal, and their movements suddenly began to quicken as they found the strength to pick themselves up. They glanced at themselves with wonder, feeling their bodies fully healed and their aura completely replenished. But it wasn't just that. They could feel the extra power coursing through them.

Jaune collapsed to the ground, barely conscious. He could not move at all, his aura totally drained. He didn't even have the strength to pick his head up and look in front of him. All he could hear was the snarling of Grimm and the sounds of combat.

"Please tell me I did it," was all he said before he closed his eyes and fainted.

When Jaune came to, his body still felt pretty numb. He tried moving his fingers and, while a little difficult, he was relieved to feel them move. Then he looked up and noticed the three faces looking down at him. They all smiled when they saw he was awake.

"Gave us a small scare there," Sun said, putting his arms behind his back, "But I was sure you were fine. Takes more than some Grimm to kill you."

Jaune blinked up at him. He vaguely remembered Sun and the two others about to be ravaged by a pack of Grimm.

"I should say the same to you," Jaune said, "What exactly happened?"

Oscar kneeled next to him, looking to see if there were any wounds.

"Well," he began, lifting Jaune's arm to inspect it, "We were getting mauled out there. Then, as we were about to be torn apart, you suddenly ran to us and channeled all your aura into the three of us. Of course, you healed were able to heal us quickly, but it also seems you were able to give our aura a sort of power boost. With it, we easily took care of the remaining Grimm while you were unconscious."

Jaune gave him a questioning look.

"A… power boost? What do you mean by that?"

Oscar gave him an equally questioning look.

"We were hoping you would tell us about it. I mean, you were the one practicing healing with Dende."

"Yeah," Jaune admitted, "But I only learned to heal people by using my aura and creating a certain energy that is similar to the one that Dende uses."

Sun tapped his foot, his hand on his chin.

"Well, if that's the case then it doesn't explain the sudden amount of power we received when you gave us your aura. Like, you don't quite understand pal. It was a serious power boost. It made fighting the rest of the Grimm a walk in the park."

Jaune was at a loss for words. He didn't really have an explanation for this sudden power he had, and he was pretty sure he didn't pick it up from Dende.

"I think," a new voice said, "Mr. Arc has finally truly unlocked his Semblance."

Everyone turned to look at Oscar whose eyes had changed color and his voice had become Ozpin's. He smiled gently at Jaune's bewildered expression.

"Yes, you heard me correctly, Mr. Arc," he said, "I believe that when you asked Dende to train you how to heal, the Namekian did not so much as teach you how to heal people the way he does. He led you to learning how to manipulate your aura and channel your aura into other people which is essentially healing them. However, it seems during a dire circumstance you were somehow able to channel your aura in a way that would heal and boost your targets own aura. This is a unique ability that very few Huntsmen have ever been able to use. As for how you figured it out, I can't quite say. These things just happen naturally."

Jaune was stunned beyond belief. He couldn't quite believe that he, after months of trying, had stumbled upon his Semblance. All because he asked Dende to teach him how to heal people. All because he wanted to become more useful.

He wasn't the only one surprised. Sun and Neo looked at Ozpin in astonishment.

"That's his Semblance?!" Sun exclaimed loudly, unable to keep out his shock, "That's actually incredible! It's easily one of the most reliable ability's I have ever seen."

Ozpin shook his head slightly, chuckling.

"Now, now. It does come with some drawbacks. Especially when it hasn't been trained with. As you can see, after unknowingly activating it, it has drained Mr. Arc of all his aura. It will be a while before it begins to recover."

Jaune knew he was right about that. There was no way he was moving from this spot for a while. But then, he began to feel a small bit of warmth inside him. Warmth that slowly began to spread around until all of a sudden, Jaune could feel his body entire body. He carefully began to stand up, causing even Ozpin to gape in shock. He straightened up and suddenly felt nicely refreshed.

Sun gave Ozpin a derisive snort.

"'It will be a while before it begins to recover,'" he imitated Ozpin's voice before yelling, "My ass! He looks good as new!"

"That is quite remarkable," Ozpin admitted squinting at Jaune curiously, "I wonder why that is."

Jaune suddenly remembered something from long ago tugging at his mind. Something he had been told when he was first told about aura. Something he had been told after his aura was unlocked by…

"Someone once told me that I had unusually large amount of aura," he stated, "Maybe that's why I am able to channel my aura into other people. The extra aura is for me to use to help others."

Ozpin nodded, considering this new information.

"Yes, that would make sense. But still, it should still be impossible to recover so quickly after being completely drained."

Ozpin clearly wanted to continue discussing the subject, but the group suddenly heard the distant sounds of roaring and it came back to them that they were far from safe. Sun patted Ozpin on the back.

"Let's table these discussions for now, prof," he said, "We got other things to worry about. But one more thing before that," Sun suddenly paused, clearly remembering something. He rounded on Ozpin suddenly, his face becoming angry.

"Hold up! Why are you here now?! Why didn't you help Oscar and us fight the Grimm with your own powerful aura and what not?!"

Ozpin flinched.

"You see, I was a little preoccupied with finalizing our plan to find the Relics and I wasn't quite paying attention."

"YOUR BODY WAS LITERALLY ABOUT TO DIE!"

As Sun began to berate Ozpin, Neo watching cheerfully, clearly enjoying the entertainment, Jaune was thinking about something else. Ozpin's question about how he had figured out to use his Semblance had come back to him and for a few moments, he was just as clueless. However, as his strength returned to him, his memory did as well, and he remembered the voice that spoke to him. The voice that had sounded exactly like her.

Jaune looked down, hiding his face from the others so they couldn't see his tears. As they dropped to the forest floor, he smiled.

"Even now, you are looking after me, aren't you?" he whispered quietly, "Even now, you are helping me find my way."

Dusk had begun to fall upon the island of Patch. The sun was nearly below the horizon, giving way to the cracked moon as it emerged on the other horizon.

Though it was the usual time to begin winding down, the inhabitants of the Xiao Long household did not do so. Especially the ones training outside.

Gohan flew to the side, evading another KI blast from his father, and began to charge up his own. But he wasn't given the chance as Piccolo appeared behind him with super speed, catching the boy off guard. With a downward strike, Gohan was sent once more plummeting to the earth with too much velocity for him to stop himself. He slammed into the ground, groaning in pain. Nearby, he could hear a cry from Krillin, followed shortly by the sound of a tree breaking and falling.

After they had sent the Huntsmen into the Grimm infested woods and after Vegeta separated them forcefully, the fighters had commenced with their own training as usual. Their training didn't really consist of much expect for lots and lots of sparring. Sparring that felt far more like an actual fight.

At times, they would fight in a battle royale, everyone fighting for themselves. This type though had on multiple times nearly destroyed the Xiao Long residence since the five of them were literally flying around nonstop, flinging energy balls at each other and rushing each other in midair. Thankfully, Goku's quick reflexes and speed had so far spared the house from any harm, but the property around it was now filled with craters both big and small and the surrounding tree line of the forest had been pushed back a few hundred feet.

Other times though, like right now, the five would split into two groups and go from there. Today, Gohan had been paired up with his father and Piccolo who had taken it upon themselves to tag team him and make sure he practices his dodging and reflexes. So far, it had not been going so well. However, it was better then what Krillin got. He was with Vegeta, who did not spare a tiny bit of mercy. Gohan still felt the bruises Vegeta left after their last sparring match.

As Gohan unstuck his head from the ground once more, he heard Piccolo yell from above, "You must be aware of your surroundings at all times! Keep your senses on high alert while fighting so you can anticipate an unexpected attack from behind!"

Gohan nodded faintly, picking himself up and raising back into the air. Goku and Piccolo were hovering above him, looking down as he came up and Gohan decided to try and surprise them. He quickly stuck out his arms and fired to KI blasts at each of them. As they soared towards them, Gohan used the distraction to speed up and fly all the way around them. As the two easily batted away the weak KI blasts used as a distraction, Gohan charged up and began to fling a volley at them from behind.

For a split second, the Saiyan hybrid thought it had worked. His attacks seemed to connect and exploded in midair where they had been hovering. However, as the smoke cleared, Gohan saw nobody hovering there anymore. Too late, Gohan activated his senses and spun around to find the two of them smirking at him.

"Good try son," Goku said, grinning cheekily, "But you are gonna need to get a lot faster for that to work on-"

Gohan launched forward, throwing a barrage of punches at his dad, each punch moving at the speed of light. Goku simply backed away slowly, effortlessly dodging the lighting fast attacks. Piccolo just watched, deciding not to intervene and see how this goes.

After about a minute of Gohan trying to land a hit, Goku finally decided to end it. With perfect reflexes, he grabbed caught one of Gohan's punches in one hand, stopping the boy cold. Before Gohan could do anything, Goku punched him in the gut before once again sending Gohan back to the ground with downward kick. This time Gohan crashed landed on his back, crying out in agony as the ground below him cracked with the force of the fall.

His eyesight became a little blurry as he tried to fight through the pain. From the corner of his eye, he could make out two figures locked in an intense exchange of fists. The shorter of two actually seemed to get the first hit off, making the other recoil back. However, as the shorter pressed its advantage, the other one launched a sudden volley of blue energy blasts forcing the shorter one to dodge. Then the taller of the two flew straight at the other, landing a solid hit that sent the short one crashing out of Gohan's sight. A moment later, there was a resounding crash followed by the thunderous noises of falling trees.

"Poor Krillin," Gohan thought drearily.

Just then, he heard another noise to the side. Mustering his strength, Gohan raised himself to a seated position, trying to ignore the sharp pangs of pain, and looked over to see that the Xiao Long's house door had opened revealing Taiyang in the door frame.

"Hey guys!" he yelled loudly, making sure everyone could hear him, "Just wanted to let you know that dinner is ready."

Goku quickly lowered himself to the ground, his eyes sparkling at the mention of dinner. Piccolo and Vegeta joined him and Krillin flew out from the forest, landing unsteadily beside Gohan.

"Sounds great, Tai!" Goku responded happily, "We will be right in!"

Tai nodded absently but was clearly focused on something else. It became apparent when he turned back to them and asked sharply, "Where are the kids? Shouldn't they have been back in the evening?"
Vegeta scoffed.

"Only if they survived and found their way back. Otherwise they are probably dead."

Tai recoiled at Vegeta's bluntness. Goku frowned at Vegeta for a moment before turning to Tai and smiling reassuringly.

"Don't worry!" Goku said, "These guys won't be beaten by something like this. I am completely positive that they will all succeed without any trouble."

Tai didn't look much more hopeful, but he sighed and went back inside, closing the door behind him. Once he was gone, Goku rounded back on Vegeta, his face growing serious.

"You need to stop saying things like that," he said, his tone unusually stern, "Especially to Tai. His daughters are two of those kids and if they got hurt in anyway-"

"What are you saying, Kakarot?" Vegeta cut in curtly, "Are you saying that if those brats die, that man will do something to us?"

He shook his head and sniggered. Piccolo and Krillin glared at him, close to their limit of dealing with Vegeta's mean comments. Goku just sighed, turning away and looking towards the forest. As for Gohan, he certainly did not like all of these negative and degrading comments from Vegeta about their new Huntsmen friends. But at the same time, he knew that deep inside, the Prince truly cared. Gohan still remembered when he had saved Yang from being killed at the hands of Frieza, throwing his body in the way and getting injured.

The door to the house opened once more and they turned to see Bulma and Dende approaching them, both looking apprehensive. It seems that Tai had told them that the Huntsmen were still not back.

"Still no sign of them?" Bulma asked.

Goku shook his head, not saying anything as he kept his eyes on the tree line. Krillin sighed heavily as the atmosphere grew tense.

"I knew we shouldn't have done this," he eventually said, "I mean, putting them in a clearing and allowing them all to fight together against a small group of those creatures was fine. But sending them out into the woods that we got Raven to fill with a horde of them and then separating them? I think we may have pushed them a little too hard this time, Goku."

Vegeta actually laughed, causing everyone but Goku to turn and glare at him.

"You must be stupider than you look, earthling," he chortled, "That is, if you think that sending them out there is more dangerous than having them spar with us every day."

Krillin was about retort angrily but to everyone's surprise, Goku nodded in agreement.

"Vegeta's right. The Grimm they are fighting are their natural enemies in this world. They were trained before to fight them and before we came, they were about to capably fight and defeat most of them. Now, after training with us, these creatures will soon seem like nothing to them. Maybe not at first, but soon."

Bulma looked unconvinced.

"Even if that's true, Goku, how can you be sure that they are doing fine right now? Can you sense them?"

Goku suddenly smiled widely.

"Earlier, yes. Now, I don't need to even do that. Look."

He pointed towards the tree line. Everyone followed his finger and the tension melted away all at once.

Climbing out of the brush one by one, looking absolutely exhausted and sporting various injuries were the Huntsmen. Most came by themselves, but a few came in groups, much to the annoyance of Vegeta. But the no one else cared. Despite looking they had been through a meat grinder, the Huntsmen smiled up at them as they approached, careful to avoid tripping on new craters created by the days training session.

Within just a few minutes, everyone had returned from the forest, gathering together and began to exchange stories with each other. Goku, Gohan, Krillin, Bulma, and Dende joined in as well, interested to hear all the different accounts as well. Even Piccolo seemed interested when Yang came to him and described her adventure.

Only Vegeta stood apart, watching the gathering with distaste. He didn't want to partake in what he considered to be very foolish and sentimental acts. Especially when he believed that the exercise that had just been through was not so hard.

He spun on his heel, about to head inside the house when a voice spoke up behind him.

"Vegeta?"

He stopped. Without turning around, he looked over his shoulder to see who was speaking. It was Weiss, visibly nervous.

"What do you want?" Vegeta demanded, his voice gruff and angry.

Weiss hesitated for a second. Then she performed a curtsey.

"I would just like to thank you for teaching me how to use my aura with my weapon. It was incredibly useful today. Without it, I may have not gotten out so easily."

Vegeta was silent for a moment. He considered telling her to go away but something stopped him from doing so. Instead, he just grunted and looked away. As he began to walk to the house, he called back to Weiss, "Keep practicing."

Meanwhile, back at the gathering, news began to spread that dinner was ready. They group began to move towards the house, eager to chow down on some food after a hard-stressful day.

Dende was just about to follow Ren and Nora inside when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Jaune gesturing at him. Curious, the Namekian let everyone past him until it was just him and Jaune outside.

"Hello, Jaune. Everything okay in today's training session?"

Jaune hesitated and for a moment, Dende was worried that something really bad had happened. Then Jaune grinned shyly.

"Yeah, a little better than it should have. Apparently, I unlocked my Semblance today."

Dende clapped his hands together in excitement.

"That's excellent news, Jaune! What sort of power is it?"

"Well that's the thing," Jaune began to explain, "I basically can use my aura to heal and boost other people's auras and support them during a fight. That's why I have such a large quantity of aura."

Dende paused, letting that sink in.

"So, your Semblance was healing all along? Does that mean our lessons were a waste of time?"

Jaune shook his head, smiling kindly.

"Not at all. I actually stopped you so I could thank you. Without you helping me learn to manipulate and channel my aura, I would have never discovered my Semblance. You gave me the foundation for finding the Semblance!"

Jaune reached his hand out towards Dende.

"I can't thank you enough, Dende," he said seriously, "I will make sure to improve this Semblance and be a valuable asset to this mission. All thanks to you."

Dende reached up and accepted his hand, smiling back.

"I'm happy I could help!"

With that, the two entered the Xiao Long household and joined the dinning festivities already underway inside.

Ever since the mass arrival a week ago, Taiyang had been working nearly as hard as the Huntsmen. Starting near noon, he would begin preparing food for dinner, making amounts that dwarfed feasts served at rich houses. With the ferocious appetite the of two Saiyan's, plus everyone else, it was the only way Tai could feed everyone. Every night this week, he had collapsed, exhausted from cooking and making second portions for Goku and Vegeta as they ate through his dishes nonstop. On top of all of this, it cost nearly a fortune to keep this up for a week. Tai was beginning to run out of his reserve money buying all the ingredients needed to satisfy his house guests.

Today had been almost no different. He had started at noon and worked nonstop since cooking dish after dish. However, there was one difference today. One that both surprised and relieved Tai. He was helped by the two most unexpected people. His ex-wife and his brother in-law.

Raven had claimed that, since she had gathered all the Grimm for the Huntsmen to fight, there was no reason for her to be out in the forest today. So, to occupy herself, she had decided to help Tai. She tried to make it clear that she was only helping because she had nothing better to do, but Tai could tell she need some company. And besides, the two of them have gotten a lot closer ever since she arrived. Tai enjoyed reconnecting with his former wife and teammate, but he was getting increasingly annoyed at Yang who kept badgering him about it every day.

Qrow had nearly the same claim that his sister did. After Ruby got him to stop drinking in the morning, which Tai was extremely thankful for, the veteran Huntsmen had crashed on the couch and slept off his hangover for a few hours. When he awoke, it had been well into afternoon and, nothing else to do, he elected to help Tai as well. The most ironic thing for Tai about this whole situation was that this was the first time he had spent a decent amount of time with both Raven and Qrow together since their Huntsmen days at Beacon.

"If only Summer could see us now," Tai had thought as he cooked alongside the two of them, "She would have been overjoyed."
Now, with the mountain of dishes complete and with a host of hungry Huntsmen and Saiyan's ready to eat, a full on feast was underway. Within minutes, talk and laughter broke out as people began to converse, sharing stories and jokes with each other.

Ruby and Yang listened in awe as Goku and Krillin regaled them with stories about when they were children and they trained under an old pervert by the name of Master Roshi to fight in martial arts tournaments. Meanwhile, Gohan compared stories about training under Piccolo with Blake and Sun, laughing as they found similarities between the two. Piccolo did not join in, but he listened from across the room, a dry smile on his face. At the dining table, Bulma was busy repairing Neo's communication device while the mute tried to convey to her that she shouldn't bother right at that second. But the blue haired genius waved away the protests. Even the proud Prince Vegeta found himself in a discussion with Weiss about the material his armor was made of and how it enabled him to stay flexible when he fought.

Overall, the mood had risen significantly in the Xiao Long household, with concerning thoughts and problems temporarily forgotten about. Neither Frieza nor Salem were mentioned. Not even the Relics were discussed.

In the living room, Ren and Nora sat together on the couch eating together and watching the late-night news channel on the television. It had been so long they had even watched television that the experience made them feel somewhat nostalgic.

As the reporter talked droned on, Nora leaned against Ren's shoulder.

"You know," she began, smiling sweetly up at him, "I really enjoyed our date today."

Ren chuckled.

"I pegged you for the type that liked to kill monsters rather than going out for a candle lit dinner."

They shared a good-hearted laugh. They were facing each other and suddenly they fell silent, looking into each other's eyes. Each could feel the others warm breath and hear it quicken in the moment. Then, slowly, they began to lean in.

Nora had been waiting for this moment nearly her entire life. Finally, she was finally gonna be with the man she loved. Despite everything that had happened, this one moment would be the one she would remember forever.

They were just millimeters apart when suddenly Ren froze. Nora felt him tense and she back away quickly, looking at him concern.

"What's the matter, Ren?" she asked, wondering if she had done something wrong.

But Ren wasn't looking at her. His eyes had become glued to the television screen and as Nora watched, his face grew deathly pale. She followed his gaze and looked at the television herself. She let out a high-pitched scream of absolute terror.

Within a few seconds, everyone else was in the living room. They began to approach Nora and Ren, ready to ask what had happened when they all noticed the television, and everything became clear.

"Greetings, citizens of Remnant," Lord Frieza said on the television. His smile was as cruel as ever and his red eyes were just as piercing on the monitor as they were in real life. He stood where the reporter had been a few minutes ago and standing to the side was his right-hand man, Ginyu. There was no sign of the reporter or any of the other news crew.

"I have yet to properly introduce myself to you all," continued Frieza, his tone polite but unmistakably smug, "I am Lord Frieza, ruler of most of the known galaxy. However, recently I have been confined to this wretched rock as a result of some unforeseen problems."

He paused, his expression seeming to harden at the thought. However, when he continued, his voice was just as polite.

"It is actually about these unforeseen problems that I come before you today. You see, I am searching for a few select individuals that have dared to intervene with my plans. Unfortunately, the miserable rats are quite good at hiding and my men have been having trouble locating them."

To the side, Ginyu visibly shifted, clearly nervous. Frieza continued on, his face becoming darker by the word and his smile becoming more sadistic.

"So here is my offer. My men will be going around with details about these individuals and I ask you, citizens of Remnant, to find these criminals and report them to me at once. However, if you disappoint…"
Frieza stopped and his devilish expression match his devilish features all too well. In that moment, he embodied everything people feared about the devil and far beyond.

"If you disappoint," he continued slowly, his polite demeanor replaced by dripping menace, "I will begin to slowly exterminate populations one by one as I have already done with the likes of the places you call Menagerie and Anima. And if you still cannot deliver any results…"

He raised his hand. From the other side of the screen, the reporter suddenly came into view, suspended in midair. He was struggling madly as Frieza brought him towards the middle of the screen. Then, as the man wailed in despair in front of millions of people, Frieza slowly closed his fist. The resulting explosion knocked the camera down and it fell to the floor. All that could be seen on the television was a blue wall and a set of alien feet standing before them. As the smoke cleared from the attack, the feet walked towards the camera and Frieza's face once again appeared, filling the entire television. His smile was wider and crueler than ever as he finished his message.

"That will be your entire planet."

With those chilling words, the screen cut out and the television showed nothing but static.

For a few moments, there was total silence. No one moved. No one spoke. The cheerful mood that had filled the house just minutes ago had vanished without a trace, replaced once more by the fear they had become so accustomed to.

"You… monster…"

Everyone slowly turned to look at Goku. His head was lowered, and he was shaking uncontrollably. As they watched, they felt the ground suddenly tremble slightly and before Goku suddenly threw his head back and roared.

"YOU MONSTER, FRIEZA!"

His power exploded outward, pushing people back and blowing out windows. It was just a single shockwave, but it was enough to startle everyone out of their daze.

Goku began to walk out, his power still flickering around him. Before he could reach the exit though, Gohan appeared before him, blocking his path.

"Wait, dad!" he pleaded, "Don't run after him now! You will get yourself killed!"

For a moment, Goku seemed not to care. He stook one more step forward but then stopped. He paused then let out a deep breath, relaxing his energy.

"Sorry about that," he said at length, his voice quiet and reserved, "I lost my head there for a second."

He turned back to the group at large. Everyone looked back at him, sharing his misery. They knew that Frieza had been looking for them. It had probably all the evil tyrant could think about after they escaped through his fingers at Haven. But they hadn't realized how far he would go. They didn't think we would use the citizens to find them, giving them a deal that they could not refuse. Now, each and every one of them had become a fugitive. They would be hunted after, the people searching restlessly for them. It just made their mission even harder.

After another long silence, someone cleared their throat. Oscar stepped forward, his current demeanor revealing that Ozpin was in control.

"It seems we have met another massive obstacle," he said, keeping his voice steady, "But we cannot let this deter us. If anything, this only means we must act as quickly as we can."
Ruby shifted uncomfortably.

"But, do we have a plan yet, Ozpin? And are we even ready to go out there yet?"

She directed the second question to Goku, who stayed silent. Ozpin, however, responded a slight smile appearing on his face.

"As a matter of fact, Ms. Rose," he said, "I do have a plan finalized for us."

All eyes were on him now. They all waited expectedly.

"It's all very simple actually," he explained, "We already have the Relic of Knowledge. We still have to find the other three. According to Bulma's Relic Radar, the other three are still at the Huntsmen academies of Atlas, Vacuo, and Vale respectively. Even the one in Beacon is still intact. However, we do not have time to go to each one as a group and get the Relic. So, we have to just split into three separate groups. Each group will be responsible for retrieving one Relic. When we have all three, we will meet at the ruins of Beacon to summon the gods. It will be easiest if the ones from Atlas and Vacuo come to Vale so that the party at Beacon has ample time to search for the Relic in the rubble. Does everyone understand?"

The plan did seem simple enough. The group pondered it, trying to see if there was anything wrong. Jaune stuck his hand up.

"What about the Relic of Knowledge? Does it stay here until we have collected the others?"

Ozpin shook his head.

"No, we will need to take it with us. As strange as it might sound, it will be safest with one of the groups. If Taiyang is questioned and they find the Relic here, this mission will completely collapse. Also, if we have the Relic with us already, we do not have to spend time retrieving it from here when the time comes to summon the gods. Any more questions?"

Weiss raised her hand.

"Who is in which group?"

Ozpin smiled sadly.

"I will announce that tomorrow. To be honest, that was the only piece I had not yet smoothed out. But with time running out, I will use tonight to figure it out."

Weiss nodded and Piccolo spoke up.

"Don't we need certain Maiden's to open the doors to the Relics?" he asked critically.

Ozpin nodded.

"Usually, yes. However, while those door are magically and built from the most powerful material found on Remnant, you guys have powers that have never been experience on Remnant since the Gods walked along with us. I believe that Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Krillin, and you, Piccolo, have enough power to simply blow down the doors to the Relics."

Piccolo grunted. Satisfied, Ozpin was about to dismiss everyone when, suddenly, Vegeta spoke up.

"This is our last night here," he said, his voice dark but not cruel, "We will not return here. We will either succeed in defeating Frieza. Or we will die trying. Whatever the case maybe, this your last night to rest and prepare yourselves for what's ahead. Once we are on this mission, there will be no more drills. No more training. There will be just you, the objective, and the enemy. That is what this has all come down to."

He did not go on. Instead he turned and walked outside. There was a deathly silence following his speech. It was only broken when Goku sighed and addressed the group himself.

"He's right. This really is our last night. Get some sleep. You are going to need all the energy you can get."

With that, he to walked outside. The house was silent. Then, gradually, people began to head upstairs and retire. No words were exchanged. No one wished another a good night. There was nothing to do but to get as much sleep as possible. Because when they wake up, they will not experience another good night's sleep again.

Salem sat in her throne room, listening quietly to the wailing Grimm outside. For her it was quite a soothing sound. It especially helped her to think when her mind was muddled. And right now, her mind was truly muddled.

For an entire week, she had been doing but sit in her throne, trying to think of possible solutions to her problems. However, every time something seemed like a good idea, she would find some way to dismiss it.

She sighed heavily and got up from seat, moving to the window for the hundredth time that week. She stared out at the dark expanse below her in which she had been reborn in centuries ago.

"Back then," she muttered to herself, "Things were so much simpler. I was immortal. I was all powerful, at least compared to all the mortals in this world. I conquered and I struck fear into the hearts of man."

But now, a new force had entered the fray. A force, though not immortal, far surpassed her in power. One that meant nothing but pain and death to any opposed him.

"My power cannot compare," Salem said quietly, looking down at her hands, "And there is no one else in this world that can. All we can do is wallow in despair, praying that he will not exterminate us all."

She returned back to her seat, feeling no better than before. This had been her routine for the last week and it made her feel sick just how weak and pathetic she was acting. Yet, it was all she could do as she hopelessly looked for a way to dispose of Frieza.

"There must be a way," she muttered, "No person is without their weaknesses. No one is without their faults. What do I have that I can use to defeat him?"
As the simple questions circulated through her head, there was a knock at the door. She looked up and sighed. She had nearly forgotten that she wasn't the only one residing in this castle.

"Come in."

The large double doors opened, and her servants entered, all looking solemn. While Salem had been locked up inside her room, they had been down below, training themselves.

"My lady," Cinder said, bowing. The others followed suit.

Salem gestured for them to sit and they did so. There was a short silence before Cinder once more spoke, her voice nervous.

"We have come here to ask… if you have an assignment for us?"

The air became tense as Salem's servants stared at her, wondering how she would respond. Salem thought about it before saying, coolly, "That is what I am trying to calculate, Cinder. However, at the moment, all you need to do is prepare yourselves for that mission."
Cinder slammed her fist against the table, startling everyone. Salem stared at her as the Fall Maiden gave her a furious look.

"What happened to you?! Aren't you the immortal witch of darkness?! Aren't you the one that stood up against the gods themselves?! Why now have you become weak and-"

Mid-sentence, Cinder suddenly flew back and slammed into the wall. Tyrion watched excitedly as Mercury and Emerald cried out but didn't move as Salem walked forward, her hand outstretched towards Cinder. Her eyes were glowing a dangerous red and her dark power spread through the room.

"Accuse me of being weak again, Cinder," she snarled venomously, "Tell me that I have become nothing but a coward."

Cinder struggled against the invisible force that kept her against the wall. Her eyes flared as she tried to use her maiden powers, but nothing happened. It seemed that her power was being restricted by Salem.

For a few tense moments, the other servants watched in cold silence as Cinder was punished. Then, Salem lowered her hand and the Fall Maiden fell back to the floor where she lay limp. Salem began walking back to her seat, a new gleam in her eye.

"While your rudeness is quite unacceptable, it seems your words have awoken inside of me," she said presently, sitting back in her throne, "Or at the very least, it has allowed me think clearly once more. Maybe it was because I needed to hurt someone to release my stress."

Cinder struggled to her feet, grimacing at Salem.

"I do have an assignment for you all," Salem continued, looking at everyone a smile appearing on her lips.

"And what may that be?" Cinder spat, finally straightened up.

Salem looked at her and the Fall Maiden saw the same powerful evil in her eyes that had convinced her to join Salem in the first place.

"Let's just say, our race for the Relic's is far from over."

She reached out and the double doors opened on their own. Her servants stood from their seats, bowing to her. Cinder inclined her head slightly, her expression still furious.

"Begin preparations. You will be leaving tomorrow," Salem informed.

They began to file out the door. However, before they left, Salem suddenly noticed something very odd.

"Where is Arthur Watts?"

Thunder boomed over the large fortress. Heavy rain began to pour down on the many soldiers as they headed out on missions or came back from missions, ready to report any useful information to their superiors. A few soldiers dragged prisoners with them or suspects that were in for questioning. The occasional high-pitched scream or cry of agony permeated in the storm as people were tortured for information about the location of the most wanted people in Remnant's history.

Inside the long grand throne room, Lord Frieza sat on his throne, his favorite wine in hand. He sat quietly, listening as one of his commanders gave him an update on the search for the Saiyan scum and their friends.

"We have all our teams working around the clock," the commander was saying, his voice shaking as he tried to keep his composure before the emperor, "We have many traveling to large towns and cities, spreading the description of the criminals and are even working on getting highly detailed wanted posters out on the streets of every settlement. A few teams have come back with people that have been suspected of having some info. However, so far, all the people have been proven to know nothing. Currently, we have a number of teams-"

Frieza held up a hand and the commander stopped dead.

"Let me say this, commander," Frieza began coldly, his eyes boring into the commanders, "If there is no significant progress to report, then just say that. Do not bore me with a long lecture about what your trying to do."

The commander nodded frantically, bowing low.

"Apologies, my lord! Please forgive my foolishness!"

Frieza waved him away. The commander scrambled up and sprinted out of the hall. When he had left, Frieza took a thoughtful sip of his wine. Beside him, Ginyu grunted in annoyance.

"Still no sign of those blasted Saiyans," he said gruffly, "I should be out there searching myself. I do not trust these low-down humans and animal people to find them for us."
Frieza smiled a little at that.

"Have patience, Ginyu. If you lose yourself and rush into something, you will never get anywhere. The main thing you must remember as well is that those brats can hide forever. Knowing them, they will stubbornly start to move out again in hopes of defeating me. That was partly why I decided to broadcast myself to the world."

Ginyu glanced at him, clearly confused.

"Forgive me, my lord, but what do you mean by that exactly?"

Frieza gave him a disappointed look.

"Please do use your brain, Captain. If they see me on the news, broadcasting to the world that I was searching for them and threatened to destroy the planet, they would begin to panic and try to do something futile to stop me. The point is, I'm trying to flush them out. I expect that in the coming days, we will start getting definitive reports on their whereabouts."

Ginyu nodded, seemingly understanding. Satisfied, Frieza continued to sip his wine, letting his mind wonder. However, they were interrupted as the doors to the throne suddenly opened once more. He looked to see the commander he had just dismissed running back towards him, his face pale.

"My lord! I apologize for the sudden intrusion! However, someone is here demanding to see you!"

Frieza narrowed his eyes at the commander who cowered under his gaze.

"And what does this person need to see me for? If it's to try to complain or seek revenge, please dispose him quickly. He is interrupting my drink."

"He says he has important information for you, my lord," the commander revealed, "Information that will not only help you find your criminals but also take control of the entire world!"

That caught Frieza's attention. He smiled a little, unnerving the commander even more.

"That does sound quite enticing," he said quietly, "Yes, well then, escort this person inside. But please tell him that if his information is not satisfactory, he will meet an untimely end."

The commander bowed deeply before hurrying out of the room once more. Ginyu gave Frieza a skeptical look.

"Do you really believe some low life will give you that kind of information, my lord?" he asked.

"Not really," Frieza admitted, his lip curling into a sadistic smile, "But it shall provide me with some entertainment."

After a few moments, the doors opened once more. Frieza and Ginyu watched as a troop of soldiers escorted a man through the hall. Frieza inspected the man in question, his smirk still present.

He was well dressed, with an expensive suit under an expertly tailored coat. His mustache twitched as he looked up at Frieza, his eyes conveyed a small bit of fear that the emperor picked up quite quickly. The escort stopped before the throne, the soldiers all kneeling down in respect. The suited man did so as well, which Frieza did appreciate. This man has a sense of propriety.

"My lord Frieza," the man began, his surprisingly steady, "I am humbled to be in your grand presence."

Frieza chuckled, quite used to this type of groveling. He refilled his glass of wine, readying himself for the entertainment.

"Oh ho, my you have quite the silver tongue, don't you?"

The man chuckled nervously.

"I have been told as much by my colleagues. It is just a habit of mine. I hope it doesn't bother you, my lord."

Next to Frieza, Captain Ginyu stepped forward, glowering down at the man.

"Get on with it! Lord Frieza doesn't have time listen to you foolish banter. Just tell us the information you promised to tell us!"

The man looked at Ginyu and his composure faltered. He stared in shock for a few seconds, his mouth hanging open.

"H-Hazel! Is that you?!"

"YES! I AM!"

Ginyu did a pose, pointing his finger downward. Then he burst into laughter, leaving the man utterly confused.

"Hazel? Is that really you?"

Ginyu continued to roar with laughter, still not answering the question. That is until Frieza cleared his throat and the Captain stopped mid-laugh. He bowed towards Frieza, apologizing for his outburst before turning back to the man.

"No, I am not this Hazel man you know of. I am the illustrious Captain Ginyu and I used my body change technique to take over this body. As for the previous owner, who you call Hazel… well, he's long dead."

Ginyu grinned cruelly as the man began to sweat, taking an instinctive step back. Frieza, growing tired of this charade, once more cleared his throat. When complete silence fell, he gazed upon the man once more, his smile replaced by a cold stare.

"I think it's time you tell us who you are and what you have come here to tell us," he demanded coolly.

The man nodded quickly. He stepped forward once more, fidgeting with his mustache.

"Yes, of course, my lord."

He bowed down.

"My name is Arthur Watts. I am a former Atlesian scientist, though I was thrown out when they deemed my style of work to be too… dark for their tastes. Up until a few days ago, I served under the dark witch Salem, who you have encountered before."

Frieza focused on Watts, his interest beginning to rise. He remembered meeting Salem in the forest when he had found that black creature with a sphere for a head. He hadn't thought much of her since, but he did suppose that she had been some sort of ruler. He gestured for Watts to continue.

"However, after you destroyed the continent of Anima, I decided that staying with Salem was not in my best interest. I knew that if she found out about my betrayal that she would have me killed so I made sure to take a slow but incredibly careful road here."

Frieza leaned back in this throne, sipping his wine.

"So, you seek my protection," he said, "And in exchange, you claim to have information I would find helpful?"

Watts nodded.

"Go on then," Frieza gestured, "Enlighten me, servant of the witch. What do you have that could interest me?"

Watts gulped but did not back down.

"Yes, my lord. You see, I have noticed that since you have come to this world, you seem to be completely uninterested, or more likely uninformed about the existence of something very powerful that we have here."

"Oh?" Frieza narrowed his eyes, "And what is that exactly, doctor?"

"The Relics, my lord," Watts supplied, his face covered in sweat.

Frieza considered this for a second. It was true that this was the first he was hearing of this. But would it aid him at all in his current objective of killing those meddlesome brats? He decided to hear him out in the end, thinking that if nothing useful came of this, he will just kill him.

"Go on," Frieza said.

"There are four Relics in Remnant," explained Watts, "They are ancient artifacts, created by the gods themselves. It is said that when the four Relics are brought together, the two brother gods of light and darkness will be summoned."

"Sounds familiar," Frieza said, smiling a little, "Do they by any chance grant wishes?"

Watts blinked, a little confused before shaking his head.

"I do not believe so, my lord."

Frieza sat back, disappointment running through him.

"A shame. But no matter. However, I do wonder how you know that these Relics of yours would summon the gods."

"My former master, Salem," Watts quickly explained, "She is, as you probably know immortal and lived during a time when the gods inhabited this world along with us. However, she rebelled against them and she was punished, given immortality by them to suffer for all-"

"STOP!"

Frieza's voice echoed within the large throne room. Everyone within froze, completely silent, their eyes on Frieza as he stood up from his throne, discarding his wine glass to the side. He came down the steps and stopped before Watts. Despite being taller, Watts had to use all his willpower to resist the urge to run as the emperor glowered straight into his eyes.

"What did you just say?" Frieza asked quietly, his voice deadly calm.

"I-I s-said that when she rebelled, S-Salem was given i-immortality by the g-gods to suffer for all e-eternity," Watts stuttered in a cold sweat.

Frieza was silent for a moment. Then he turned to the soldiers that had escorted Watts to the throne room.

"Recall the search teams at once. I have a new mission for them. One that takes new priority over the search for those accursed monkeys."

The soldiers nodded, running out the room as fast as possible to carry out the order. Behind him, Ginyu came to join Frieza. He himself looked just as stricken as everyone else, but he asked gingerly, "What do you mean by doing this, Lord Frieza? Are you really-"

Frieza turned back to Watts, clearly ignoring the Captain's foolish questions. Instead, he once more bore his eyes into Watts.

"Where are these Relics?"

Watts moistened his mouth, trying not to panic. However, he felt that one wrong word would result in his painful demise.

"Three of them are located in the academies of Atlas, Vacuo, and Vale. You nearly destroyed the Vale Relic after what you did to Beacon academy, but according to Salem, the Relic there is still intact."

"And the fourth one?"

Frieza's voice was a low hiss, dripping with venom. Watts clenched his fists, his finger nails drawing blood in the palms of his hands. This was the question he was most afraid to answer. He knew that it would anger the murderous emperor. However, not responding was not an option either.

"I-it was located at Haven Academy in Anima. However, it was taken by the group of Huntsmen and other worldly fighters during the battle there and they must have escaped with it before you destroyed the continent."

Frieza's expression went completely dark. Watts backed away quickly, unable to resist any longer. He wasn't the only one. Ginyu was also backing off, his face contorted in terror as he watched his master shake in absolute rage.

And then Frieza raised his head roared, a tremendous roar that shook the foundations of the fortress. He exerted a massive amount of power, blowing away both Watts and Ginyu and causing a web of cracks to form on the throne room floor. For a few seconds, Watts was sure the entire building was going to collapse from the sheer power and that after everything he had done, he would meet an untimely death by being buried alive in rubble.

But as soon as it had started, the shaking began to subside. Frieza's roar faded and within a few seconds, only silence remained. Watts, deathly pale and shaking, stared as the tyrant straightened up and glared down at him. Once more, he was convinced that he was about to die. Then Frieza spoke, his voice dark but calm.

"You have earned the privilege of being my advisor, doctor. Your information has proven to be invaluable. I hope you can live up to my expectations from here on out."

Watts fell before him, groveling pathetically. But the doctor didn't care.

"Thank you, my lord. Thank you."

Frieza turned away, walking back to his throne. As he did so, he barked at Ginyu, who was scrambling to get back on his feet.

"Captain Ginyu! I have a mission for you!"

"Yes, Lord Frieza!" he straightened, looking serious. He didn't dare pose at a time like this.

"I need you to head for Atlas and retrieve the Relic there. Take a few teams of men with you. However, it shouldn't be too hard seeing as we have control of the army there and their business. Yet, I suspect you may run into some resistance, in which case eliminate anyone that dares get in your way!"

"YES, MY LORD!"

Ginyu sprinted at once out of the throne room, leaving Watts alone with the alien emperor. As he watched Frieza pick up his glass of wine and resume drinking, a dark look of ill intent on his face, Watts realized that despite all the terrifying and horrific things he had seen and experienced while under the service of Salem did not even compare to the sight of seeing Lord Frieza angry.

"He won't lose," he whispered to himself, "He will win. Remnant doesn't stand a chance."

A daring betrayal leaves the most dangerous person on Remnant with information that may prove costly for our heroes. However, they have yet to find out they are now not the only ones chasing the Relics. A three-way race is about to start as the three remaining Relics lay in wait. Whoever is able to gather them all will hold the fate of Remnant in their grasp. Who will it be? Find out next time on Dragon Ball R!

Authors Note: Hello lads! Once more, I would like to apologize for the huge wait. Unfortunately, with college around the corner, gaps like this may become common place. In addition to this, since I am beginning to deviate from the base storyline of RWBY, I am going to need more time figure out how to tell this story well. However, I would like to assure everyone reading that even there is such a large gap, I am not giving up on this story. I have gone too far to give up now anyway! Anyway, I would like to thank each and every one of you for supporting this story all this time and waiting so patiently for this chapter. Please leave some reviews and feel free to PM me for any questions. As always, I can't thank you guys enough I will see you next time! Bye bye!

P.S.: I will be starting to hide certain references to another fantastic anime in each chapter. See if you can the one here!